Entropy
by too addicted to fiction
Summary: This was a bad idea. If she were still on the Ark, Clarke thought she could be considered certifiably insane. And how did Bellamy Blake coming to see her result in this? Scaling the side of cliff, held up by nothing more than ratty rope and a skinny girl from Factory station. He might have been the prettiest distraction she'd ever met. Post-"Fog of War." Bellarke.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey guys, I'm normally a silent reader of fanfics, and when I do write, I tend to keep them to myself and some friends, but I'm currently super into Bellarke from "The 100," so figured I'd give this a try. Would love any and all comments, as that is inspiring to new writers. Thanks, and happy reading!

Chapter 1

This was a bad idea. No, not even just a bad idea. This was on par with when she fought off Dax while high on nuts, or jumped off the top of that waterfall to follow Anya even though she couldn't swim. If she were still on the Ark, Clarke thought she could be considered certifiably insane.

Here she was, being lowered down the edge of cliff by a harness made from an old tent canvas and some frayed rope, by some skinny girl from Factory station. Clarke scowled thinking about Mel. The girl had tried to follow Bellamy out here for some reason, and had been lucky enough to at least stumble upon Clarke. And Bellamy… Well, he was the entire reason she was in this situation, hanging from a cliff above a lake in an attempt to gather enough seaweed to make a poultice.

The expedition to destroy the radio tower jamming the Ark signals had ended with Abby's decision to leave the tower intact so they could listen to the enemy. Once again, Raven's brilliance had given them a weapon they could use – a leg-up on their enemy. Clarke just hoped it wasn't too late. The 47 weren't just her people. They were her friends, and they needed a leader. No one seemed to realize how dire the situation was, except for those remaining from the original 100.

They had been back in camp for less than an hour when Clarke felt a hand grab her shoulder. Startled, she turned around to punch her attacker, only to hear a, "Shit, Clarke."

Bellamy. "That's quite a right hook you've got, Princess," he says, red blooming on his cheek from her punch.

Clarke suddenly felt self-conscious. "Please, that won't even bruise. Plus, if you can survive the Grounders and Reapers, I'm pretty sure you can take a hit from me."

Bellamy grinned at her, and Clarke felt the corners of her mouth pull up; when he smiled like that, it was infectious. "I'm not so sure. You're a force to be reckoned with. I'd bet on you any day, even against Grounders and Reapers."

Clarke shook her head, trying to get rid of her smile. "Betting on things you don't even know about, Bellamy? I should have known that reckless gambling would be one of your vices. You haven't been up against the Reapers close-range like I have, so I guess I can't fault you too much. Why are you back, anyway? Find a way in?" Clarke leaned forward, focused. She knew Bellamy and Octavia would never stop until they found a way to get to their people in Mt. Weather. She trusted them to do what had to be done, for the good of everyone.

Bellamy grew more serious, and Clarke mused about his sudden change in moods. That's just how Bellamy was, though. He could be almost lighthearted and relaxed one minute, and then intense and dismissive the next. Just when she thought she could pin him down, he would surprise her again. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. We have a problem."

"I'll get Raven, and I think Munroe should be nearly healed by now. If we need more – ," Clarke began, but Bellamy interrupted. "Clarke, wait. No one else can know about this, and I need you to come with me. I can't explain it here."

Clarke's eyes narrowed. She debated fighting him on this, making him explain himself, but one look at his face made her hesitate. Bellamy had really come a long way from the beginning, and she knew that he wouldn't lead her astray. If he wanted to keep this secret, he probably had a damn good reason.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her, searching her face. Yes, she realized. She did. Clarke nodded, and Bellamy seemed to expel a relieved breath that he didn't even realize he'd been holding. "Grab your pack, we need to go now."

"Got it. I'll meet you near the food storage tent. I'll have to tell Raven something so she'll disable to fence. How did you get in, anyway?" Clarke asked, throwing things into her pack.

Bellamy smirked. "Let's just say that one of the guards is a fan."

Clarke scowled, making sure her hair was masking her face, "Of course. I should have known. The ladies sure do you love you, Bellamy."

A large hand suddenly encased Clarke's own, and she looked up to see Bellamy's heated look turned fully on her. She felt her heart thud a little bit, before she schooled herself. This was _Bellamy_, king of the 100 purely based on his charisma. Well, and his compassion and ability to make quick and hard decisions… He did have _a few_ redeeming qualities, now that she thought about it. His voice jarred her from her thoughts. "Charm can be a dangerous weapon, Princess. It's all about bedside manner. I thought doctors knew that."

She gently extricated her hand from under his. "I think you've got enough charm for both of us. Now go, I'll meet you in a minute." Bellamy nodded at her quickly before he slipped out of the tent.

Clarke quickly penned a note to her mom, leaving it on her pillow where Abby would find it quickly. She might still be mad at her mom, but they were family, and she didn't want to cause unnecessary worry. She knew her mom was still reeling now that Chancellor Jaha was back, and that she was already anxious about Kane.

Clarke finished put the note on her bed before she grabbed her pack to go. She paused as a sudden shadow flitted across her vision. She pushed aside the tent flap to find a girl crouched outside, surprise on her face at being found out.

"Can I help you?" Clarke asked, wondering how much she'd overheard. She'd seen this girl before. She looked vaguely familiar.

"Oh, um, no, sorry. I was just… coming to see if you wanted any dinner. I know you all just got back from your expedition earlier." Clarke's face remained blank, and the girl continued to stammer, "I'm Mel, by the way."

Right. Clarke remembered now. The girl that Bellamy had rescued from Factory Station. "No, I'm fine, thanks. You should get back to your tent. It's getting late." Clarke pushed past Mel, heading for where she would meet Bellamy. If she had turned around, she would have noticed how Mel's eyes narrowed, or how her fists clenched, but instead Clarke crept out into the darkness, ready to follow Bellamy into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

That was yesterday, and looking back on it, Clarke realized that she probably should have paid more attention to why Mel was hanging around outside her tent. She was slipping, and not just physically as she clumsily rappelled down this cliff, but also as a leader. She couldn't let distractions get in the way, and yet she'd found herself acting more on emotion than reason lately.

Over the past month, her life had fallen into a disarray of feelings, both highs and lows, as she was constantly fighting against dangers. But that was how entropy worked, right? A gradual decline into disorder, and she felt a victim to that as she thought about recent events.

There was some good, sure. She remembered with a smile small victories they had shared, how the 100 had celebrated Unity Day down on Earth, how Jasper's moonshine had let them have a brief respite from the dangers lurking around them. In just a few weeks, those she'd once considered delinquents and criminals were now friends – no, family… And she had to get them back.

But first, she had promised Bellamy she would help, and she would. Yesterday, she had followed him out of camp, through the woods, as they jogged at a steady pace toward what she finally recognized as the dropship. When they reached the clearing, Clarke couldn't help but take in the scorched Earth and torched trees, knowing that many Grounders had died in the fallout here.

She glanced over to Bellamy and stopped. He took a few more steps, but stopped when he realized she was no longer following. Then, gently, "Princess, I already told you, you did what you had to do."

"I know. It's not that, it's just… How did we get to where we are now?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She shook her head. Maybe this was dumb. "Never mind. I just can't help thinking, maybe if we had done some things differently, had tried harder to make peace with the Grounders, or made stricter rules from the beginning… Maybe things would be different and our people wouldn't be stuck underground at the mercy of psychopaths who want to use them as blood bags to cure radiation poisoning."

Bellamy didn't respond at first, just looked at her with those dark eyes, and she couldn't tell what he was thinking. She could never tell what he was thinking.

She started walking past him, toward the dropship, when he caught her by the elbow. His grip wasn't overwhelming, but it was firm, as if he could make her see what he was thinking through touch alone. "We can't change the past, Clarke. We did the best damn job we could, and don't think otherwise. And we'll get through this too. We'll get our people out of there. The mountain men can't stop us. If you think that, then you're underestimating yourself. Our Princess is a force to be reckoned with."

"You haven't seen what it's like in there, Bellamy." Clarke wanted to tell him that she was scared, but that's not how a leader was supposed to act, and they were leaders, she and him. "And if we can't get the Grounders to fight with us, then I don't know if we can take them. I mean, it helps that we can now listen in."

"What?" She remembered that he hadn't been downloaded on what they had learned when Raven tapped into Mt. Weather's radio frequency.

"Raven figured out a way to commandeer their frequency. We've basically got an ear in the enemy's camp, and we can listen to whatever they're broadcasting."

Bellamy released her arm. His eyebrows drew together, deep in thought, and somewhere in the recesses of her mind, Clarke thought that in another world, at another time, she might have found his pondering face rather cute. But they weren't in another world at another time. They were here, and they were on a mission, and she had no time for distracting thoughts like that.

She was jarred from her reflections with Bellamy's next words, though. "What if it's a trap, Clarke?"

"It couldn't be. I mean, we're the ones onto them –"

"Think about it. They could feed us any type of information, anything at all, and they'd have us exactly where they wanted us. You said it yourself – these people aren't playing around. They're liars, and they've got resources."

The more Clarke thought about it, the more she realized that this was possible, and if that was the case… "We have to go back and talk to my mom and the Council, if that's even a small possibility. Nobody can act on that information."

"And we will tell them, but first, I need your help. You trust me, right?"

Ah, yes, the secret mission. Did she trust him? She did, maybe more than anyone. He wasn't outright sweet, like Finn was, or had been, but he was loyal and devoted when it came down to it. He wasn't as approachable as Jasper or Monty, but he was charismatic, and almost magnetic, when you needed him to be. When had Bellamy Blake become one of her most trusted people?

"I do."

"Then time's wasting, Princess."

Without further ado, he stepped up to the dropship, Clarke in his wake. He pushed through the curtain at the front, using a flashlight to shine through the darkness. Finally, a beam landed on Octavia, who looked exhausting. Her eyes were puffy, like she'd been crying.

"O, we're back. I have Clarke." Bellamy put a reassuring hand on Octavia's shoulder, and she seemed to fold into him, looking more like a little sister than she ever had before. Clarke heard a scuffling to her left, the flashlight beam panning as she turned and came face-to-face with a Reaper.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey guys! I'm glad that it seems like some of you are interested, or at least sticking around right now to see what's going to happen. I promise the next few chapters are going to get way more intense, so buckle up your seatbelts and get ready for some Bellarke action. ;) I'm on a crazy writing spree, so if we can get up to 20 reviews after this chapter, then I'll post Chapter 4 later (which I promise you'll like). Thanks, and happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, situations, or the world of The 100... But I wish they would hire me because I think it's kickass. Now onwards!

Chapter 3

Clarke didn't typically carry weapons with her. Maybe that was dumb, but it just her nature. She was a healer, not a warrior. That didn't mean she wasn't a fighter. She fought each and every day for her life and the lives of others, but she was always one to try and think through things peacefully. It killed her that her people had shot Anya. A peace pact between them and the Grounders was exactly what was needed in a world where they had to fight the Mountain Men, with weapons like biochemically engineered fog and a virtually impenetrable fortress, as well as the Reapers.

And as she stared into the crazed eyes of this Reaper, she realized that now more than ever, they needed the Grounders' help. She also regretted her lack of gun as the Reaper lunged for her. A sudden flash hit her as she remembered hiding under bodies in a cart with Anya, Reapers around them feasting on human flesh.

She stepped backward, tripping on a fallen beam, sure that this was the end… But she never felt the teeth clamping around her throat that she'd assumed were coming.

Growls and the sound of clanking emitted from where the Reaper stood, baring his teeth at her. She noticed something that looked like a chain wrapped around one of his ankles, and it seemed to be holding him back.

"You captured a Reaper?! What were you thinking, bringing it here?" Clarke asked, still sprawled backwards on the floor. Bellamy offered her his hand, and she clasped it. He pulled her up like she weighed nothing, and she noticed how easily his hand had completely encompassed hers. He let her go once she was up, but he remained close by.

Octavia hadn't moved from her spot, staring glumly at the Reaper. Octavia was a spitfire, and everyone knew it. If she had been spirited before, she was a warrior princess now, Grounder hairstyle and all. The girl was tough, and Clarke respected her for it. But Clarke had never seen Octavia like this, and she was worried.

"That's not just a Reaper. This is why I didn't want to tell you back at the camp."

"You can't reason with Reapers, Bellamy. They don't have rationale or understanding, they're just looking for the next human meat to walk by so they can pounce. Even the Grounders are afraid of them, and rightfully so. This was reckless."

"Just listen – ," Bellamy began, but Clarke was having none of it. She took a step back, making sure to step over the beam laying across the floor this time.

"No, you listen! You never think, and this, this monster…"

"Is Lincoln," Octavia interrupted, still staring at the Reaper. Clarke paused, trying to calm her breathing induced by her body's natural fight-or-flight response. It helped Clarke to think clinically in situations like this, and take everything one step at a time. She took a deep breath, blowing out through her nose.

Octavia stood up. The Reaper followed the movement, his eyes meeting hers, but there seemed to be no recognition there. Octavia continued to look into his eyes, and Clarke could see how hopeful she was. Octavia was always hopeful. "Lincoln. We can save him." Octavia turned to Clarke, that fire finally burning once again in her eyes. "You have to help us, Clarke. They did something to him, but I know we can bring him back."

Now that she did look at him, Clarke realized this Reaper was indeed Lincoln. He had blood spattered all over him, and Clarke was repulsed to see it caking his mouth and various wounds around his body. One particularly nasty cut seemed to festering in his lower abdomen, and Clarke could tell that it was septic.

But he also seemed to be sweating a lot, and he was shaking, like his body was freezing or something. His breathing seemed labored, and though his eyes were a bit cloudy, she could see pain behind them.

"We found him like this. Decided to bring him back here. No idea what they did to him. Think you can help him?" Clarke heard as Bellamy quietly spoke to her.

"I'm not sure. There's something wrong with him. See how much he's perspiring, and shaking?" The Blake siblings glanced at one another, and then back to Clarke.

"What does it mean?" Octavia asked.

"It is cold outside, but the temperature in here hasn't dropped enough to make him act this way. He has a wound that looks to be badly infected, but I can tell by the inflammation around the area that it shouldn't be affecting him this much yet. It's almost like he's going through some kind of… opiate withdrawal."

"Like they've drugged him?" Bellamy asked, glancing back at Lincoln, whose shaking seemed to worsen under their intense scrutiny.

"Is he in pain? Can we help him?" Clarke could see Octavia trying to keep it together, and she understood. This was hard to take, and she didn't even feel that she was all that close to Lincoln. Sure, he had helped them numerous times, and he'd even saved her and Finn's lives when Anya's crew had captured them, but one thing was now very clear: Octavia was head over heels in love with Lincoln, and if there had ever been any doubt before, there was absolutely none now.

Clarke swung her pack around, kneeled as she searched through it. She found a syringe that she had gathered just in case before she left Camp Jaha, along with a few other necessary medical supplies. She noticed Lincoln's sudden calm as she pulled it from her pack, his eyes not leaving the needle.

"This is a sedative, and should calm him down while we figure out what to do. It might just take time to get it out of his system, but it's not going to be pleasant, for him or us. I don't know what kind of mindfuck they put him through, but if we can break him of whatever addiction he has, that's the first step." Clarke stepped toward him, syringe in hand, and his eyes never wavered from the tip of the needle.

Bellamy reached out, nervous at close she was getting to Lincoln. "Clarke, be careful."

"It's fine. He won't hurt me. He thinks I'm giving him what he wants." She stepped closer, making soothing humming sounds as she stepped into his reach. He remained calm, glassy eyes never moving away from the syringe. "It's okay. You won't hurt me."

Lincoln tilted his neck to the side, exposing his artery for her. This was fucked up, Clarke thought, as she readied to inject him. She slowly lined the needle up, and finally plunged it in.

Lincoln's eyes rolled back into his head, but it only lasted a split second. As soon as the sedative was gone, he immediately turned, lashing out at her. Clarke fell striking her head on the cold linoleum of the dropship floor.

"Don't hurt him!" She heard Octavia cry out. Clarke looked up to see Bellamy in front of her, holding back a rabid Lincoln. After just a few seconds, Lincoln's movements began to grow erratic, and Bellamy was able to push him to the floor. Lincoln's eyes fell closed as he lost consciousness.

Octavia rushed over to him, hugging him, holding him, crying a bit. Bellamy stooped down to check on Clarke.

"You okay, Princess?" He helped her up. She nodded, and suddenly felt his hand cradling her cheek. She looked at him, confused, to see him looking into her eyes. She wanted to lean more into his touch… When he held up three fingers, smiling grimly at her. "How many fingers am I holding up? You hit your head pretty hard."

Ah. He was just checking on her since she'd hit her head. She needed to stop reading more into things than was necessary. This is what led to her being distracted, and they couldn't afford that.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." She tried to pull away, but Bellamy's hand moved away from her cheek and around to the back of her neck, effectively holding her in place. "Fine, three fingers. I'm fine."

Bellamy looked at her for a second more, then nodded and released her. He looked to Octavia whose tears had stopped and left streaks down her beautiful face.

Clarke gingerly touched her head and then winced. She was all right, but head wounds were tricky. You had to be careful, or they could make you fuzzy, and that was the last thing any of them could afford to be right now. She looked at Octavia. "He'll be okay, too, and he's resting for now. What we do need to be concerned about is that wound."

She pointed to the swollen flesh that had puckered around the deep cut in his abdomen, probably from another Reaper. "That's septic, and even if we do manage to break him from whatever addiction he has, he's in danger of dying soon after if we don't take care of it."

Clarke suddenly thought how important Lincoln was, not only because he and Octavia were in love, but also to their cause. One more Grounder on their side was a step closer to a peace treaty, and Lincoln was just that type of stubborn male to help get shit done.

Clarke glanced sideways at Bellamy, wryly thinking that there were more than one of those around right now.

"We have to help him. What do we do, Clarke?" Octavia asked. Bellamy was silent.

Clarke looked from one Blake sibling to the other. "We save him."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, well, we didn't quite get to 20 reviews, but we got to 20 favorites, and I'm willing to break my own rule because we're about to get into the super exciting part and I want you guys to spaz out with me. Thanks so much for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I do love them a lot.

Chapter 4

It had taken most of the night to travel to the dropship, and Bellamy and Clarke were all but dead on their feet. Clarke had outlined the basic needs Lincoln would have while they waited for him to go through withdrawal, and both Blakes had taken the news with grim determination. Clarke could see how this would be hard for Octavia. She remembered watching Finn in pain when a poisoned knife was protruding from his stomach, and she couldn't help but sympathize with the younger girl.

Thinking of Finn made her grimace, and Clarke excused herself outside for a bit of air. She sat down on the ramp of the ship, realizing how much colder it had grown in the month since they'd arrived. Dawn was beginning to break over the tree line, and Clarke felt herself looking at this world around her. All her life she'd dreamed of Earth, hoped for its wonders. And now… Well, at the moment, it did seem beautiful, but she couldn't let herself dwell on it, sick with worry for her friends, her family, and even the two siblings in the ship behind her.

Clarke felt a presence behind her and turned to see Octavia walking out and settling nearby. The two girls silently watched the sun begin to rise for a few moments, the silence broken only by chirping birds.

"It's pretty beautiful, when you're not worried about the dangers everywhere," Octavia said, tucking her knees up under her chin.

Clarke spared her a glance. "Once we make peace with the Grounders, because _we will_ make peace with them, and free our people, maybe we won't have to constantly be worrying about that."

"Do you really believe that?" Octavia asked, tilting her head in question.

Did Clarke believe that? She looked back at Octavia. Here was a girl who had risked everything, who was willing to leave everyone behind for a Grounder who had started everything by saving her life. "Yes, I do. And it starts with saving Lincoln."

Octavia smiled. She reached over and grabbed Clarke's hand, giving it a small squeeze before letting go. "Thank you, Clarke. I know that things were rocky at first with Lincoln, with Finn and all."

Finn again. Clarke couldn't escape that thought. She cared deeply about him, and he'd really been there for her from the first. But he'd been dishonest, and almost crazed in his obsession for finding her and the others. She knew that war changed people, but she didn't think she was ready to forgive Finn yet, if ever. She would always wish him well, but the same feelings she'd once thought she'd had were no more, gone so fast she wondered if she had imagined them in the first place.

"He saved my life. Many lives. And you love him, don't you?"

Octavia allowed a small smile to grace her face. "Love is a funny thing, isn't it? It sort of sneaks up on you, and it makes you do crazy things. Things you never thought possible."

Octavia was so blissfully in love with Lincoln, and though Clarke knew it was hurting her right now, she couldn't help but be a little envious of the connection the two shared, wishing that she would find the same one day. "Strength is and always has been born of love."

After another minute of silence, Octavia put her knees down and bounced up, showing how young she truly was. "Clarke, let me braid your hair."

Laughing, Clarke reluctantly agreed, letting Octavia forget her troubles for just a few minutes as the two fell into a light conversation.

Minutes later, Octavia and Clarke entered the dropship, where Bellamy had found an old cot and spread out some blankets. He looked up as the girls entered.

Clarke noticed Bellamy's face shift so quickly she would have missed his expressions if she hadn't have been paying attention. His face was open, so honest, and she saw surprise and then something almost heated pass over his features until he schooled his smile into something more guarded and neutral.

"So you've decided to become a Warrior Princess now like O, huh?" he said, suddenly stalking toward her.

Clarke didn't know what he was talking about until he grabbed the end of one of her braids, delicately rubbing his fingers across the blond tips. "This? Octavia did it quickly. Should help keep my hair out of my face for the time being."

Bellamy still didn't let go of her braid, only now his eyes met her, and she noticed something simmering beneath the surface, but she couldn't say what. This was Bellamy Blake, though, king of the bottled up feelings and expressive eyes. He was the type of man who made you halfway in love just by looking at him. And then he would open his mouth…

But now, despite his intense stare, all he said was, "Suits you," before he dropped the braid and walked back to the cot.

Clarke looked over to Octavia, noticing the younger girl giving her a curious look that evolved into a small, coy smile. "Interesting," she stated, just loud enough for Clarke to hear.

Bellamy was now sitting on the cot, removing his shoes. He looked to Clarke. "Clarke, we should rest before we head back to the others. We didn't sleep last night, and we have a lot of ground to cover." He could see Clarke hesitating, and he patted the mattress beside him. "Just a few hours. C'mon."

Reluctantly, Clarke sat down on the edge of the cot, taking off her shoes before she laid down. She felt the mattress dip directly next to her and looked over to see Bellamy sliding closer. "What are you doing?"

"What, don't like to snuggle? What did I tell you about bedside manner, huh?" He settled down in the middle of the cot, throwing her hands behind his head. Clarke noticed Octavia settling on his other side and realized that he was just making room for her on the cot.

She began to settle down, staying as close to the edge as possible, though she could feel Bellamy's body heat next to her. "Just a few hours, okay?"

Bellamy nodded, eyes already closed. "Okay."

Clarke's last thought as she dozed off was how this was the coziest she'd felt in a long time.

A scream woke Clarke up a few hours later, and she rolled off the bed to find Bellamy rolling on the ground with Lincoln… Who was no longer attached to the wall via a chain. She glanced at his ankle, noticing how red and swollen it was. In his desperation to get more drugs, he must have injured himself to escape.

Clarke snapped to attention as Octavia screamed again. "Lincoln! Please, it's us! It's me! Octavia!" Lincoln managed to throw Bellamy off, stalking towards Octavia as she grabbed a nearby knife. "I don't want to use this. Please, Lincoln!"

Her words went unheard, but before Lincoln could reach her, Clarke slammed into him from the side, sending them both sprawling. Near the entrance, soot from the outside wasteland had drifted in, and as Lincoln got his bearings and leapt towards Clarke, she grabbed a handful of the powder and flung it into his face.

Lincoln recoiled, emitting an awful wail, and Clarke scrambled away. She felt nails digging into her ankle, and she yelped as Lincoln dragged her back.

The hand on her calf suddenly let go, and Clarke sprang up. She looked over her shoulder for just a minute to see Bellamy scrapping with Lincoln, before she heard Octavia yell, "Clarke! Catch!"

Clarke looked up to see her backpack flying toward her. Dumping the contents onto the ground, she looked for something that could be of use before her eyes settled on another syringe full of sedatives. She grabbed it, turning around just in time to see Bellamy land a hard blow to Lincoln's cheek.

Lincoln slammed to the side, his eyes alighting on Clarke and the sedatives. He growled one more time, and Bellamy followed his eyesight to Clarke. _No_.

"NO!" Bellamy spat as he grabbed a hold of Lincoln's leg, hauling him backward. Lincoln recoiled quickly, punching Bellamy so hard that his head slammed into the wall behind them with an audible _CRACK_. Bellamy crumpled, unconscious.

"Bellamy!" Octavia wailed. A look of determination came over her features and she ran directly towards Lincoln. Clarke began to edge closer, syringe at the ready.

As Octavia neared Lincoln, who steeled himself for the blow, she slid to the side, Lincoln's line of sight following her. "Clarke, now!" Octavia yelled.

Clarke had snuck up behind Lincoln, and as his head turned, she plunged the syringe into his neck, scuttling back as his movements began to falter. Lincoln toppled, falling unconscious next to Bellamy's inert form, leaving them in silence except for Clarke's heavy breathing and Octavia's quiet grieving.

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	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Okay, I'm posting this because it's WEDNESDAY, which is my favorite day, because it means there's a new episode tonight! So I'm really happy, and therefore putting up this new chapter and maybe it can make some of you happy too. Remember, reviews make writing faster. Thanks, and happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters.

Chapter 5

Clarke finished locking more chains into place around Lincoln's ankles, careful to avoid his already blistered wound. She bound his wrists as he lay down, hoping this would contain him. As she finished, Clarke looked down to see the wound on Lincoln's abdomen seeping deep red blood, the cut having widened during the fight. That was concerning, and would have to be dealt with swiftly.

Octavia had dragged Bellamy over to the bed. He had a large purple bruise on his head, and some blood had trickled down over his left eyebrow, but he was breathing easily, and his pupils weren't dilated. Clarke would have to further diagnose him when he awoke, but she had to have hope right now that he would be okay.

"Octavia, we need to get seaweed to make a poultice for Lincoln's wound." Octavia looked up from Bellamy to Clarke, eyes dry now. "I'm out. I have to go out and get more. Will you be okay?"

Octavia nodded. "I'll be fine. Do you need help?"

Clarke shook her head, throwing things into her pack as she readied to go. "You can help by staying here and looking after them. We need to make sure Lincoln doesn't get loose again. He's a danger to himself and us, and at best, Bellamy's going to have a killer headache when he wakes up."

"Before you go, take this." Octavia handed Clarke the knife she'd been handling, and Clarke saw initials engraved into it: _B.B._ Bellamy's knife. Clarke stowed the knife her pocket as Octavia said, "He'd feel better knowing you have it, and so would I."

Clarke finished packing and Octavia stood up. The two gave each other a brief hug before Clarke hiked up her backpack, ready to go. "I'll be back. Just keep them safe. Be strong."

Octavia let a small smile grace her face. "I love them. You know I will be."

With a nod, Clarke headed outside.

* * *

><p>She knew there was a lake somewhere nearby, and where there was water, there was hopefully seaweed. Clarke wasn't a tracker like Finn, or a hunter like Bellamy. She didn't know the lay of the land like Octavia, or the plant life like Jasper and Monty. But she was a fighter, a survivor, and she was bound and determined to make sure that both Lincoln and Bellamy survived too.<p>

After some time, she stopped to take a short rest and drink some water. As she drank from her canteen, she heard a rustling in the bushes behind her. Clarke froze.

Careful not to make any sudden movements, she stowed the canteen in her pack and reached into her pocket. Her fingers closed around the knife stowed there, and she crouched as another rustle sounded.

Clarke silently tread over to the bushes, passing through them, knife in hand… Only to find herself face-to-face with a skinny girl. That skinny girl from Factory Station, to be precise. What was her name again? Mel?

"Please don't hurt me!" Mel pleaded, throwing her hands up in the air.

Clarke rolled her eyes, stowing the knife. "What are you doing here, Mel? Shouldn't you be back at camp? You're almost a full day's hike from there."

Seeing that Clarke wasn't going to knife her seemed to give Mel confidence, and the girl straightened. Her expression flitted to something fierce, something angry, for a split second, before she smiled at Clarke. She stood up, and Clarke realized the girl was taller than her.

"Well, I was back at camp, but it just seems like something's… _missing_ there, ya know?" Mel walked around Clarke, who turned to face her. Where was the simpering, doe-eyed girl? This Mel seemed almost like a predator, though what she was hunting, Clarke didn't know.

"I saw you and Bellamy slip out, so I decided to come help. I might not be one of the original 100, but that doesn't mean I can't be useful too. Where is Bellamy, by the way?" Mel looked around, as if she'd missed something.

Clarke's eyes narrowed. So this was her game. In a way, this shouldn't have been surprising. Mel was Bellamy's type, and though he'd come a long way from his harem days when his tune was, "Whatever the Hell we want," she knew that he was a hot-blooded male, and he didn't hesitate to act on that.

And Mel was pretty. Beautiful, really. She was exotic-looking, with big eyes, long legs, and she was quite trim. Clarke wasn't one to feel self-conscious, especially when it came to something as unimportant as boys, but she felt her arms cross her chest of their own regard. She was what most people would consider curvy, and she didn't like this sudden squirming feeling in the pit of her stomach when she couldn't help but compare herself to Mel.

"Bellamy's not with me. If you're looking for him, I'm sure he'll return to camp at some point soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm in a hurry," Clarke said, pushing past Mel to continue on her way.

Minutes later, Clarke rolled her eyes as she heard more and more twigs snapping and leaves crackling behind her. She stopped and huffed, waiting. After a minute of silence, she said, "I can hear you. Just come out."

Mel stepped out behind her, and at least she had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. Clarke looked at her. "If you're going to tag along, at least be helpful." Mel nodded, and the two set off.

They soon reached a point where the trees thinned, and the ground ended at a cragged cliff. Clarke heard the sound of rushing water below her, and quickly headed to the edge to look below.

There! She could see the red seaweed below, bundles of it. She examined the side of the cliff, realizing this might be harder than expected. She turned to Mel, who seemed to be marveling at the beauty of the water.

"Didn't I hear that Bellamy scaled a cliff to rescue you?" Clarke asked.

Mel immediately flushed, smiling brightly. "Yes. He didn't even know me yet, and he risked his life to save me."

"How did he do it? Scale the cliff, I mean."

Mel explained how Bellamy had saved her, focusing on his heroism and how strongly he'd held her, talking through the details, and Clarke tried to ignore the growing fire in her gut. Why should she care about how Bellamy heroically saved Mel? She should be happy – any person from the Ark they could save was a life that mattered here on the ground. But she couldn't be happy, and she tried to cut through her feelings by gleaning the important points from Mel's story.

Bellamy and the others had made a harness and used a rope to pulley Bellamy down to grab Mel. Clarke set about trying to do the same thing, but all she could find for a harness was an old tent canvas. Realizing this was the best she was going to get on such short notice, she affixed to it an old, frayed rope around the edge of a rock, testing its firmness as she neared the cliff's edge.

Clarke turned to Mel, who was double-checking the rope's knot. "You sure you can handle this?"

"I'm not stupid, and I'm not weak. I told you I would help." Mel said, annoyed at Clarke's tone. The feeling was mutual, Clarke thought, as she looked over the edge.

The water below scared her, and she remembered her high jump from Mt. Weather. She shuddered, but then steeled herself. Lincoln needed the seaweed poultice. She had to do this, for him, for Octavia, for everyone.

And that was how Clarke found herself being lowered down the edge of a cliff by a harness made from an old tent canvas and some frayed rope, only held in place by a skinny girl from Factory station.

So far, it seemed to working, and the harness held her as she neared the water's edge. "Stop!" Clarke yelled, and she felt the rope jerk to a halt.

Clarke leaned down, scooping as much of the seaweed up as she could, tucking it into her jacket and pockets, and holding as much as possible. "All right! I'm ready!" She yelled as soon as she knew this was as much as she could transport, and a moment later, she felt another jerk as Mel began to raise her.

Going up was much slower, and Clarke began to grow nervous when she noticed some of the rope stretching thinner. "Mel? How you doing?"

No response. Clarke waited, hearing only rushing water below her.

Clarke sighed with relief as she felt another tug as she began to rise again. She heard Mel calling to her, sounding panicked. "Clarke! The rope is starting to break! I don't know what to do!"

Suddenly, the rope above Clarke seemed to fray faster, its braided strands snapping. "No, no, no," Clarke whispered, looking down. She probably wouldn't die from the impact, but she couldn't swim… She looked up. The rope continued to break apart, and the harness gave a sudden lurch as she dropped lower.

"Clarke!" She heard Mel scream, and Clarke reached into her pocket, fingers closing around Bellamy's knife. The rope suddenly _snapped_, and Clarke felt her stomach drop as she began a free fall. She swung her shoulder around, slamming the knife into the cliff's edge.

And by some miracle, the knife stuck on a small point in the cliff. Clarke swung her other arm up, grasping at the hilt with her other hand. Her shoulders felt like they were being ripped from their sockets, and her feet scrabbled against the cliff's edge as she sought footing. Nothing was working, and she felt the crag where the knife had struck beginning to give.

So this is how the story of Clarke, princess of the 100, ends, she thought grimly. She looked at the knife, at the letters B.B. engraved there. How fitting that a weapon of Bellamy's bring her to her watery grave. That's what he had wanted at the beginning, right? And by some rare and maybe sick twist of events, she knew that he would never want that now, but you should always be careful what you wish for.

And just as the crag broke apart, she could have sworn she heard Bellamy's voice shouting her name. "Clarke!" How fitting his voice should be the last thing she imagined before she slammed into the water and submerged below its cold depths.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own The 100, its characters, or their amazing chemistry.

Chapter 6

_Fuck_. He felt like his skull might be splitting in half, and even though he didn't want to, he opened his eyes and immediately felt another sharp pain zing through his head. He put a hand on his face and groaned, trying to remember what had just happened.

Bellamy sat up and looked around, trying to get his bearings. He saw Lincoln slumped in the corner, a small pool of blood oozing from an open wound on his abdomen. That's right, Lincoln had gotten loose.

Bellamy hardly remembered the fight, and he didn't know whether that was because he had apparently been smacked around pretty good, or because he'd been so panicked that he didn't even have time to dwell on what he was doing. At first he'd been so worried that Lincoln would attack Octavia and she wouldn't defend herself that he'd known he had to tackle the problem headfirst…

Which is exactly what he had done as he body slammed Lincoln to the side and they tussled. But all thoughts had been pushed from his head when he remembered Lincoln's line of sight directed straight at Clarke and the syringe in her hand, and the only thought running through his head was, _No. Not her._

Maybe it was because they had an understanding. They both did what they had to do and were who they had to be in order to survive and make sure the 100 got out of this alive as well. He had initially despised her. Who was this well-to-do, privileged _princess_ to think she was one of them? One of the downcast, one of the unfortunate souls typically charged with a less-than-heinous crime in the name of so-called justice? No, she was some Daddy's girl who wanted to follow all of the rules, and make life on the ground exactly as it was on the Ark.

Only, that hadn't been quite true. Sure, she did like to follow the rules, but she had been brave enough to risk her life to save Jasper, and she'd helped Octavia when she was wounded as well. When it came down to killing Atom in the name of mercy, she had done so in a quick and dignified way to end his suffering.

But she was fighting him constantly! Though, when he thought about it, maybe he did deserve some of that. In retrospect, _whatever the Hell we want_ hadn't been the best way to live, as evidenced by Charlotte's death. So maybe she wasn't fighting him, but challenging him. And he had to admit, when they worked together as a team, they were pretty unstoppable.

That brought a smile to his lips, and he looked around for both Clarke and Octavia. Both were gone, and he winced as another wave of pain throbbed through his head. He grabbed a canteen, greedily drinking.

He looked up as Octavia entered with some berries and nuts. She smiled at him when she noticed he was awake. Shrugging off her coat, she sat down next to Bellamy. "It's getting cold out there."

He nodded, but that made him wince again, and he put a hand up to his head, feeling the lump atop it.

Octavia gave him a sympathetic look. "Let me see that." She parted his unruly hair and checked it over. "Not bleeding anymore, which is a good sign. Can you see all right?"

"Yeah." He said, voice gruff from disuse.

"Good. Clarke said you'd have one Hell of a headache, but you should be fine otherwise." Octavia turned around and grabbed a handful of nuts. She offered some to Bellamy.

He ignored her outstretched hand for a moment. "Where is Clarke? Did she go back to camp?"

"She went to get seaweed for Lincoln. The wound on his stomach tore open during the fight." She looked over to Lincoln, noting the pool of blood around him. She ripped off a strip from the hem of her t-shirt and walked over to him, pressing it against the wound. He groaned, but remained unconscious.

Something began to squirm deep in Bellamy's gut. An instinct, to go, to find Clarke. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt that something was very wrong, and that he had to check on her. He'd always been protective, or maybe even over-protective – that came with the territory of being an older brother – but this was different. This was something tugging at him, telling him that he had to find Clarke, that he was _needed_.

Bellamy stood up and was instantly assaulted by a wave of dizziness. Octavia looked up from her task of trying to staunch the light bleeding around Lincoln's gash. "Careful, Bel. You need to rest. And keep drinking water. You're probably dehydrated."

"How long ago did Clarke leave?" Bellamy ignored the pain in his head, but he did drink more water. The throbbing through his skull dulled a little as he moved around, and he was able to tamp it down now that that nagging feeling was growing stronger.

"A few hours ago. She said she thought there was a lake a short hike away from here. I'm sure she'll be back in the next two or three hours."

Bellamy started packing his bag, and Octavia stood up. She grabbed his forearm. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I have to go, O. Clarke's out there alone."

"She's a grown woman. She can take care of herself."

"I don't doubt it, but that doesn't stop me from worrying."

Octavia looked shocked for a split second before her features settled into a knowing smile. "I knew it."

Bellamy's guard instantly flew up. "What?"

"You like her."

"Everybody likes her. She's the Princess, our one-and-only goody two-shoes and resident healer."

"You _really_ like her, though." Octavia's smile had taken on a distinctly mirthful look, and it made Bellamy feel more mischievous, despite the urgency closing in on him. It had been a long time since his little sister had acted this way.

"I like most people, particularly of the female persuasion," he said, bumping into her a little, and she playfully slapped him.

"How am I related to you? I _must_ be adopted," she laughed, and Bellamy gave her a chuckle before throwing on his jacket and hiking up his pack. "Hey, Bel?"

"Yeah?"

She gave him a hug, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding on for a fleeting second. "Be careful. Don't do anything stupid."

He gave her one last squeeze before heading out of the dropship.

* * *

><p>Bellamy hadn't started out as a great tracker, and he'd actually not paid much attention at all when they took Earth Skills back on the Ark, but he had been in enough group outings with Finn to know the basics, and he was able to trail Clarke with relative ease.<p>

He was exhausted, and hungry, but he couldn't ignore how the squirming feeling in his stomach was growing worse, like he instinctively knew he had somewhere to be, and not much time to get there.

It had been a few hours, and he'd been jogging, so he hoped that he would soon catch up to Clarke, since she'd been walking. He felt the lactic acid building up in his legs and grimaced, knowing the pain later would be better than the regret he'd feel if something happened to her.

Up ahead, he could see the trees start to thin, and he heard a voice that he didn't recognize yell, "Clarke! The rope is starting to break! I don't know what to do!"

Bellamy began to sprint, crashing through the brush, branches and brambles scraping him as he threw his arms out in front of him to protect his face. He pushed harder, and burst out of the tree line to see a girl with brown hair holding onto a frayed rope as it began to slip through her fingers. He vaguely recognized her, but he didn't have time to think as she screamed, "Clarke!"

Bellamy rushed over to the edge, straight past the girl, who gaped at him in shock. He looked down, and his heart dropped into his stomach. He felt like he couldn't breathe, and it was like time slowed down as he saw Clarke hanging from a knife on a small crag that seemed to be giving way.

And then time seemed to suspend completely as the rock face gave way, and Clarke was falling through the air, blond hair fanning out around her. He screamed in a way that he didn't think he'd ever screamed before, a desperate cry of, "Clarke!" before she crashed into the water and then disappeared from sight.

He heard his name being called behind him, and turned to the see the brunette girl rushing toward him, her hands raw from the frayed rope, but he didn't have time for her. He threw off his pack, and dug into it quickly before he pulled out a net, used for tracking smaller game such as rabbits or raccoons. He wrapped it around one hand, careful to grip it hard, before he zipped up his pack, swung it up over his shoulders, and braced himself for what was about to happen.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked.

"Something stupid," he muttered.

And then he threw himself over the edge of the cliff.

* * *

><p>AN: So this chapter was a bit of a filler because I had to bring Bellamy and Clarke back together, but the next few chapters are SUPER FLUFFY, and if you're like me, then you will hopefully be grinning ear-to-ear with Bellarke Fever. And also the plot will start to move along. I'm debating how much I want to keep to canon or not, so let me know your thoughts if you feel passionately one way or the other - I'm pretty open right now! And as always, reviews = inspiration, so leave a comment if you liked this ;) Thanks for reading! xoxo, TATF


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but they're wondrous anyway.

Chapter 7

The impact had knocked all the breath from her lungs, and Clarke dearly wished she had just one small gulp of oxygen as she sank into the water. The harness was dragging her down, and her struggles began to grow weaker as her lungs burned. _This is the end_, she thought. _At least I'll see you soon, Dad_.

Vaguely, Clarke felt pressure around her midsection, though her thoughts were too muggy to comprehend what exactly was happening as the harness broke away from her, continuing to drift ever downward.

A minute later, her head broke the surface, and she spluttered for air. The pressure around her midsection was an arm, she realized, and she coughed and tried to get her thoughts together, but she was still oxygen-deprived.

"Stop flailing, Clarke!" she thought she heard, but a sudden wave seemed to knock whoever was holding her off as she was on her own once again. For some reason, she didn't sink this time, and then she remembered that her jacket was stock-full of buoyant seaweed.

Her slight relief was cut short when another wave of water propelled her forward, and she found herself being rushed straight towards the edge of the cliff. Her head struck with a loud _CRACK_, and her thoughts began to grow murky again as she lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Bellamy cursed. He'd had her, and he'd even managed to cut off that fucking canvas that had been dragging her down, but a wave had managed to knock them apart. He saw blond hair floating near the edge of the cliff, and with a few powerful strokes, he was able to grasp her around the waist once again.<p>

He noticed red blooming in her hair, and realized that she must have hit her head on the cliff face. Waves continued to oscillate around them, and Bellamy tried to move further out so they weren't in danger of being thrown against the cliff side once again.

There must have been a current, because they were rapidly moving away from their original position now that the harness wasn't anchoring them. Bellamy tried to unwind the net from around his hand, and he cast it out to the rocks around them as the water began to rush them faster and faster.

He heard a loud rushing sound, and saw that there was another cliff ahead, only the water poured over it into another ravine. He thought back to his classes on the Ark. So this was a waterfall?

He realized they were running out of time. No way could they go over that. Even if they did survive, Bellamy knew he probably wouldn't be able to keep a hold of Clarke. In another desperate attempt, Bellamy gathered the net and threw it towards the rocks lining the river that were too slick to grab.

Amazingly, the net grabbed onto a more jagged rock, and Bellamy found himself clutching the net for dear life and praying to whoever the Hell was listening that it wouldn't rip. He grunted as he tried to haul both himself and Clarke against the current and over the edge, but he was able to swing her onto the rock face so that only her legs dangled in the cold water. He pushed himself up beside her, breathing deep.

He took a second to collect himself before he leaned over Clarke and examined her. She had a sluggishly bleeding head wound, but he grew concerned when he didn't see her chest rising and falling.

"No, no, no, no. C'mon, Clarke," he shook her, but she didn't respond. He put his ear next to her mouth and realized she wasn't breathing. He sat up on his knees and tore open her jacket. Seaweed fell out, and he pushed it to the side. He ripped her shirt down the middle so that her upper body was clad in only her bra, and he placed his hands on her chest like he was taught when he was a cadet on the Ark.

He began pumping her chest, grunting as he did so, before he leaned over, pinched her nose, tilted her head back, and put his lips to hers, breathing two deep breaths into her lungs. He watched her chest inflate, and suddenly she was coughing, sputtering water as he looked down at her, more relieved than he'd ever felt in his entire life.

As she began to come to, he tried not to think about the pressure of his lips against hers, or how her shirt was hanging open. He tried… But it was somewhat impossible to block out. Bellamy couldn't change who he was, after all, and he averted his eyes, face hot, as she sat up, still coughing.

Clarke's lungs burned, and her thoughts still felt extremely cloudy. She couldn't stop shaking, though whether from adrenaline or cold, she didn't know. She felt something wet and heavy being placed around her shoulders, and she glanced aside to see Bellamy putting his jacket over her.

"If you wanted me to start shedding clothes, Princess, all you had to do was ask," he joked.

She mustered up a small smile before she passed out.

* * *

><p>Bellamy cradled Clarke to his chest as he walked into an opening. It was starting to get dark, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. He knew they would never make it back to the dropship by nightfall. He could feel Clarke's body shivering in his arms, and he looked down to see that her lips had taken on a concerning blue tinge. He remembered how much of the cold water she had swallowed, and though she was maybe the toughest person he'd ever known, he realized how fragile she actually was when she wasn't bossing him around or saving the day.<p>

He gently laid her on the ground, leaning her against a large tree trunk as he opened his pack. Everything was damp, including all extra clothes and most of his gear. He used some twine to create a line between two branches and began hanging extra clothes on there, hoping they would dry quicker.

Bellamy went about making a fire, trying to make it as big as possible. He knew this was a risk, as the Grounders, Reapers, or even Mountain Men could smell or see the smoke, but he didn't see any other way around it. Clarke was frighteningly pale, and her shivers gave no sign of subsiding soon. He pulled out a blanket and hung it on the line closest to the fire, hoping that it would warm up quickly. He also pulled his jacket off of Clarke and hung it next to the blanket. It was colder than the rest of the gear, and Bellamy realized that Clarke's skin was icy to the touch.

He sat down and maneuvered Clarke into a position so that she was leaning on him as he leaned against the trunk, his legs on either side of her. He began to rub slow circles on her arms, trying to warm her up. Internally, he was starting to panic. She hadn't managed to rouse since she'd coughed out water on the rocks, and the temperature was going to continue dropping throughout the night. He tried to pull her closer, shielding her from the frigid air as much as he could.

She was really quite small, he realized, when he saw that her body fit perfectly with his. He studied her more closely. He'd never really noticed how long her lashes were before, or how plump her bottom lip was. That made him remember breathing air into her lungs, and he felt warmer thinking about it.

"You're not supposed to heat extremities in cases of hyperthermia," Clarke slurred, and Bellamy looked down to see her glassy eyes half-open.

He gave a quick laugh of relief, happy to see her awake, and stopped rubbing her, opting instead to just encircle her in his arms. "At least you're awake enough to tell me what I'm doing wrong, eh, Princess?"

"Nausea. Low blood pressure. Dizziness…" She trailed off. What was she talking about? Bellamy's brow knit together as she continued. "Forgetting where you are…"

She must have been saying the symptoms and effects of hyperthermia. "Cold," she said before falling silent again.

He hugged her tighter. "Hell, Clarke. You really gave me a scare for a minute."

She smiled sleepily, lips still blue. "Don't be 'fraid, Bellamy. I'll protect you."

When she started nuzzling into his neck, he realized that she either must have hit her head harder than he'd thought, or the cold was really going to her brain. Either way, he needed to keep her lucid so she could tell him what to do. "Hey, Princess. Stay with me here. Tell me what to do."

She hummed, and he shook her a little. "Boil water. Heat the core," she murmured before her eyes closed and she seemed to fall unconscious again. She was still shaking.

Bellamy pulled out a small canister from his pack and poured water in it, trying to boil it. After a few minutes, he poured the hot water into a water bottle. "Now what?" He had no idea what to do with the hot water. Was she supposed to drink it? Was he supposed to use it to heat her up?

He pressed the hot water bottle to her side, and hoped that it would warm up her core a little. A few minutes later, though, the water was cool again, both from the night air and Clarke's low body temperature. He touched her cheeks. They were freezing.

"Dammit, Clarke." Bellamy reached up to grab the coat, but it was still cold. The blanket, however, seemed warmer, or at least dry, and he grabbed it off the line, moving the jacket and other clothing closer to the fire.

He wrapped Clarke in the blanket, but it didn't seem to be doing any good. How could he warm up her core?

_Body heat_. The thought slipped through his mind, and his eyebrows drew together. Clarke would probably punch him again if she woke up like that… But what choice did he have? She might be mad, but she'd realize he was just saving her life. He began to tug off his shoes, his shirt, his pants, until he was left only in his boxers.

Next for Clarke's clothes. First came her jacket, seaweed still bunched in the pockets. Her shirt was still ripped down the middle from where he had to perform CPR, and he couldn't help but stare at her form for a minute. He'd never seen Clarke like this. She normally wore clothes that were modest and plain, practical in every sense. And here… Well, her outfit was no longer modest nor plain.

He pulled off the ripped shirt, and he unlaced her shoes and took off her socks. He peeled her freezing pants away from her legs, swallowing hard when she was left in only her bra and underwear.

He realized this wasn't the time, but he couldn't help but marvel at her. Why did she wear such unshapely clothes all the time? Clarke was gorgeous, and he knew that this was a mental picture that he could never rid himself of.

He pulled her close to him, wrapping the blanket around them and scooting close to the fire. Her feet were _freezing_, and he tried to warm them up by slipping one of her legs between his. He hugged her close, laying his cheek on her head, and hoped with every ounce of his being that she would be okay.

* * *

><p>AN: Thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites, everybody! That really inspires me to write faster, and it makes me happy that you all feel the same way about Bellarke as I do. As always, reviews = inspiration, so tell me how you feel. Thanks for reading! xoxo, TATF


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters. I also don't own the lovely cover art I'm using for this story (I found it on Google Image), but mad props to whoever made it because it inspired LOTS of ideas. Happy reading!

Chapter 8

Bellamy had grown so used to Clarke's shivers that when they finally subsided, it woke him from his drowsy state. Her head was pillowed by his bicep, and their legs were tangled together as they faced one another.

Under that blanket by the fire, he felt warmer than he ever had before, and not just because of the body heat. Clarke had elicited some sort of fire within him, and he gazed down at her face, pleased to note that her lips were beginning to return to their normal pink. In fact, he couldn't stop staring at them. They were so close. If he leaned in just a bit…

A whimper escaped Clarke's lips, and Bellamy's brows creased. A minute later, she whimpered again, her face taking on a distinctively pained grimace. Bellamy didn't like that. He started rubbing soothing circles on her back, and her eyes slowly opened.

"Bellamy?" she asked. Her voice was rough, and Bellamy remembered that she had nearly drowned.

"I'm here," he whispered.

She seemed confused, disoriented. "Am I dreaming?"

He should have found this funny, but instead he felt all his blood rush… downwards. "Do you often dream of me, Princess?"

A goofy smile graced her face, and he felt one of her hands flit over his stomach as she brought it up to his face. She poked his nose. "Maybe that would be a nightmare."

"Is this you or the hyperthermia talking, hmm?" he hummed, thinking that this had to be because of her distressed state.

Her finger left his nose, and instead slowly curled around the back of his neck, playing with his unruly hair. He closed his eyes in pleasure as her nails lightly scratched across his scalp, but they snapped open when he felt a pressure on his lips.

Clarke was kissing him! Did she even know what she was doing? Bellamy tried to pull back, but her hand on the back of his neck kept him from going too far. He looked into her blue eyes, searching. "Clarke, you're not yourself."

"I'm only myself when I'm with you," she whispered to him. "With everyone else, I have to be the leader. The healer. The daughter of the lead medic and councilwoman Abby Griffin. With you, I'm just Clarke."

He understood. He felt the same way. He had thought that only Octavia knew him, but now… She leaned forward to kiss him again, and he let himself go. He gently bit her lower lip, and she opened her mouth for him.

He'd been with several of the girls from the original 100, not to mention his fair share of women on the Ark, though he was always very careful to make sure he didn't create another situation similar to his mother's. But all of the kisses he had ever shared paled in comparison to this one.

Kissing Clarke was beyond any high he had ever known. It felt better than finally catching a quarry after a long hunt, or feeling the rain wash away your sins and regrets for the first time. He felt like nothing in his past could hold him back. All that mattered was the small woman here in his arms.

He felt like he was losing control, and dammit but he liked it. One hand dug into her hair, and he tilted her head back, laying small kisses along her neck. The other crept up the flat plane of her stomach until it reached her bra-clad breast. He couldn't help it. The girl had the best rack he'd ever seen, and though he had tried not to think of her in this way before now, he knew every one of the guys from the 100 had noticed and appreciated.

He squeezed. She moaned. He brought his lips back to her mouth, wondering how far this would go… When he remembered that she was getting over hyperthermia, and she had a head wound. She probably didn't even know what she was doing.

He reluctantly pulled away. His mother and Octavia had taught him to respect women, and though he seemed like a womanizer, he always had their wellbeing and wishes at the forefront of his mind.

Clarke leaned forward, hoping for more kisses, but he pulled back. She huffed, frustrated, and a pout overtook her face. Bellamy couldn't help but smile. It was cute. "Clarke, we can't."

"Why not?"

"You're not in the right state. You probably won't even remember this in the morning." He pulled her forward and kissed her forehead.

She snuggled deeper into the crook of his neck. "Will you stay with me?"

He could tell she was already drifting off to sleep. "I'll be here," he told her. The _I'll take care of you _was left unspoken.

* * *

><p>Clarke woke up extremely warm, and her body tingled all over. What had happened? She remembered trying to get the seaweed, and Mel lowering her down…<p>

Her head was killing her. She cracked open her eyes. And found herself staring into Bellamy's sleeping face. Her first instinct was to punch him so hard that he would feel it a week later. She wasn't that type of girl. But as soon as she thought about unleashing her inner fury, she realized how lethargic her limbs were, almost like they were just now thawing after having been frozen for a while.

Ah, that's right. Somehow Bellamy had wound up in the water with her, and he'd saved her. Since when did he know how to swim? She'd have to ask him. She supposed for at least now, she would allow him to go unscathed. He had saved her, after all.

She studied him. The tension was gone from his features, and he looked younger than usual, and she smiled at the smattering of freckles along his nose and cheeks. His hair was sticking every which way, and she couldn't help but mouth how she felt he looked: "Cute."

So Bellamy had somehow saved her life. She remembered when they had gone after Jasper and found him strung up as live bait, and how she'd fallen for the Grounders' trap and been saved only by Bellamy's quick reflexes. Looking into his eyes that day, she wasn't sure if he would pull her up or let her go, and he had looked like he wasn't even sure himself. Now he was rescuing her from rapids, healing her from hyperthermia.

The sun was rising, and Clarke felt something alight deep in her gut, but it wasn't a bad feeling. Instead, it made her tingles increase tenfold, and she felt an overwhelming outpouring of affection for Bellamy. She leaned forward, lightly put her lips to his, and gave him one soft lingering kiss before she turned over, her back to his chest, and snuggled further into his warmth.

She lay like that for a few minutes, wondering when the last time she'd felt this content was. She couldn't remember. They had so much on their shoulders, despite how young they truly were. She knew that soon, she and Bellamy would have to book it through the forest to save Lincoln, and then head back to Camp Jaha to warn her mother, Raven, and the others about the radio frequency being a possible trap.

"Clarke," she suddenly heard from behind her. Bellamy was moaning! She peeked over her shoulder, and then squeaked when one of his hands pulled her closer. She felt his hand lying on her breast. And against her lower back, she felt… Oh. _Ohhh_.

Was Bellamy having… a sex dream? About her? The thought made her even warmer, and her face flushed. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. I mean, they were adults here, and it's not like neither of them had had sex before but… This felt like unchartered territory to her.

Clarke cleared her throat. "Bellamy," she coughed out.

He stirred, and then slowly blinked open his eyes, taking in his surroundings. Clarke waited for him to move his hand, but he didn't. "Bellamy," she said.

"Yeah?" he blinked sleepily. Again, she couldn't help the word _cute_ running through her mind.

"Your hand."

He looked down to where his hand lay, and calmly removed it. "Changed your tune from last night, Princess." He began to extricate himself from her.

Wait, _what_? "What do you mean?"

Bellamy stood up and began taking clothes down from a line hanging above their heads, and Clarke really got a good look at him. Everyone could appreciate a handsome man with an impressive body, and Clarke was not immune to this. "Nothing at all."

"Wait, tell me!" She stood up, and then suddenly it seemed to hit her that she was wearing next to nothing. She let out a small _eep_, and Bellamy smirked at her.

"If you can't remember, I'm not going to tell you." His eyes positively _twinkled_ with mirth. He tossed her her clothes, and she began to pull up her pants.

"Bellamy. What did I _do_?" She was horrified. It must have been something truly embarrassing for him to get such a kick out of it. He just shook his head.

She grabbed her shirt to throw it on over her bra, but she realized it was ripped down the middle. She looked up just as another shirt landed on her head. She pulled it down and saw that it was Bellamy's.

"That's an extra. You can have it, since I had to, umm, rip yours."

Clarke began to slip it over her head. "I'm not even gonna ask." It was warm from having been over the fire, and it smelled like him. She smiled at his back as he gathered their supplies and began to put out the fire. She checked her gear. Some water damage, but things seemed to be intact for the most part. Her jacket reeked of seaweed and stale water, but she would just have to put up with it.

Bellamy stood in front of her. "You okay? Ready to go? We can eat on the run. I have some nuts and dried meat in here."

She nodded, and when he turned away, she grabbed his hand quickly. He stopped, and she threw her arms around him for just a minute, hugging him. He slowly brought his arms up to encircle her, and they stood there for a moment.

"Thank you," she whispered to him.

He grinned, though she couldn't see it. "I'm glad you're okay, Princess. I knew I could bet on you."

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><p>AN: Did I make you grin?! If so, leave a review - that inspires me to write quicker! Also, can you believe tomorrow is the midseason finale? I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna be having some serious withdrawal. Thanks for reading! xoxo, TATF


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, or this awesome cover art. But I do like all of those things a lot.

Chapter 9

"Wait… Stop," Clarke huffed out, and she saw Bellamy pause ahead of her.

They'd been hiking at a relatively quick pace for a while now, and her head was absolutely pounding. She plopped down, grabbed a pill from her med kit, happy to see that plastic encasing had kept them relatively undamaged despite their unintentional swim.

She popped it into her mouth, and considered Bellamy. Before she'd woken up with him this morning, she remembered how Lincoln had thrown him into the wall yesterday. He seemed okay as he took a large swig from his canteen, but she wasn't sure that he'd make it known to her if he was in pain.

"Bellamy." He looked up at her. "Come here."

"Bossy this morning, aren't you, Princess?" he said, closing the canteen and sauntering over to her. She presented him with a pill. "What's this?"

"For your head. You got knocked around pretty good yesterday."

She handed him the pill, and their fingers touched. Did Clarke imagine it, or did they both linger for a second longer than necessary? He popped it into his mouth, and took another swig of water.

"Can I see it?"

Bellamy paused in his movements, looked at her. "What?"

"Your head. I want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine," he murmured. Leave it to Clarke worry over him when it was she who had been in recent danger.

"It would make me feel better," she said, earnest. She didn't really know if this would work, but a minute later he swung his pack off and sat down next to her, so close their thighs were touching. He bent his head down, and she separated his tufts of hair to inspect the lump.

"Am I gonna live?" he drawled.

She let him go and their eyes met. She could see amusement dancing behind them, and she felt a bit mischievous herself. "It'd take more than a hard knock to damage your thick skull," she said.

"I could say the same about you. Looks like I'll need to give you swimming lessons sometime."

She tried not to smile. "When did you learn to swim, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Out hunting. Did a lot of exploring. Figured if we were at war with the Grounders, we should prepare for anything. Plus, it never hurts to stay clean."

For some reason, Clarke found this little quirk to be highly amusing, and even a little adorable. Rough 'n tough Bellamy wanted to stay clean? "So you taught yourself to swim so you could take baths."

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, Clarke. Maybe I'll show you my secret bathing spot sometime." His gaze was so intense, she found herself unable to look away.

She suddenly realized they were drifting closer. The idea of Bellamy bathing stuck in her mind, and was it suddenly really hot around them? They were so close, now. Only centimeters more, and…

A _rustling_ sounded as a rabbit hopped out of some bushes, breaking the moment. Clarke felt rather than saw Bellamy reach into his pack, probably looking for a weapon to get them some food, but the rabbit suddenly broke away, leaping in the direction that it had come from, leaving Clarke to wonder if it had ever really been there in the first place.

* * *

><p>"And so I wound up in the garbage shoot on Walden. When I finally managed to find a vent, I came right out in the middle of some poor lady's living room."<p>

Clarke laughed as she and Bellamy trudged along. They were within an hour of the dropship, and somehow their companionable silence had given way to a more boisterous camaraderie – one filled with past memories and much entertainment.

"And did she throw you out? Report you to the guard?" Clarke asked, unable to help the huge smile overtaking her face.

Bellamy glanced back, his eyes crinkling in laugher as he grinned back at her – a grin she rarely ever saw, and never for very long. "I thought she would… But would you believe me if I told you came onto me immediately after?"

Clarke choked out another laugh and pushed Bellamy's shoulder. He slowed until she came up right next to him, and they continued their walk, side-by-side. "You're incorrigible."

They walked for another minute when he bumped into her side, quite on purpose. "Your turn, now."

"I don't have anything as funny as that. My life was kind of boring in comparison, sounds like."

"No fair, Clarke. I told you my most embarrassing stories. Now regale me of tales of being the Princess."

She was about to open her mouth to tell him off when a sudden scream split the air and Bellamy took off running.

Clarke sprinted to catch up with him, but he was pretty fast. "Octavia?" she asked, throwing her hands up as they dashed through brambles and branches.

"I don't think so," he shouted back, but his pace didn't slow.

He was getting ahead of her, and Clarke felt legs start to burn when they saw figures ahead. Grounders! Two of them, one holding a girl immobile while the other rifled through her pack.

Bellamy's bolt didn't lose speed as he slammed straight into the one holding the pack. The other Grounder released his captive, foregoing her in hopes of defending his friend. Clarke neared them and realized it was _Mel_. Shit. She had totally forgotten about Mel since she'd last seen her.

Mel dashed to the side as Clarke reached them. Bellamy was scrabbling with the first Grounder when the second pulled him off and began punching him into the ground. Clarke looked around and found a large tree branch. She picked it up, swung it wide, and felt painful tremors wrack her arms as it connected with the Grounder on top of Bellamy.

The first Grounder whom Bellamy had tackled managed to get his footing, and he looked from Clarke to Mel, who was crying on the opposite side of the clearing. Bellamy stood up, and Clarke's heart dropped into her stomach when she saw him edge his way between the Grounder and Mel in a protective stance.

Weighing his options, the Grounder turned toward Clarke, and she readied herself to fight him when suddenly a horn blew, and everyone tensed. Clarke met Bellamy's eyes. "Acid fog."

The Grounder immediately began to back away, towards his companion who was unsteadily getting to his feet. With one last look, the two of them disappeared into the forest.

Bellamy quickly grabbed Mel by the wrist and began running, calling out to Clarke. "C'mon!"

Clarke took off running after them, and her eyes couldn't stop straying to Bellamy's hand wrapped around Mel's tiny wrist. Jealousy tore through her, and it set her blood afire. What a stupid thing to worry about when the acid fog would be upon them any second. She could already see it behind them, drifting up quickly. But it was making her irrationally angry.

She told herself to calm down, to forget it. So this is what Wells must have felt like when they first came down here. She remembered Bellamy saying, "Now she sees you," and thinking how ridiculous his jealousy of Finn had seemed when they had so many other problems to worry about.

_Wells_. The car. She realized she knew where they were, and it was close by. "Bellamy!" Clarke yelled. He turned his head, making sure she was okay. "This way!" She veered to the right.

"Dammit, Clarke!" Bellamy pulled Mel along as he raced toward Clarke, and he saw her stop in front of a moss-covered hill. Only, he saw her reach down and yank on something, and a door seemed to open from the ground. He and Mel drew up next to her.

Clarke hopped in first, and Mel followed. Bellamy came in last, slamming the door shut above his head just as the fog rolled in.

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><p>AN: GUYS, I promise that the frustration you're feeling right now will abate next chapter (which I will give to you faster if you show me lots of love via reviews). Still love me?! Also special thanks to Aoi Okami for being my 100th review - made me smile despite how insane this day is going. AND GUYS, MIDSEASON FINALE TONIGHT - I'm honestly going to be spazzing out the entire time. But hopefully I'll be able to fill your void a little while The 100 is off the air with some exciting chapters here. Thanks for reading and reviewing! xoxo, TATF


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but HOW MANY FEELINGS DO THOSE THINGS GIVE YOU GUYS?! Because they give me a lot of emotions...

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><p><span>Chapter 10<span>

This stupid car. Twice now she had been trapped in it from that stupid fog. Twice now it had been with two other people, one each time whom she really did not want to be with. Only the first time, at least there'd been whiskey to dull her feelings. Now all she had was a raging headache to accompany her inner turmoil.

Clarke couldn't stop repeating the latest events in her head. First, Bellamy has to go and be all heroic and save her. Fine, she can deal with that. He's her co-leader, and they're better as a team.

But she couldn't help but feel that he'd gone above and beyond. She was all kinds of confused. He'd incited these feelings in her, these emotions… And then he'd picked Mel. When that Grounder had been debating which girl to go after, Bellamy had put himself in from of Mel. He'd _chosen_ Mel.

Clarke felt her eyes burn with unshed tears, but she refused to cry over Bellamy. She was frightened by how much brighter the world seemed when he was nearby, or how much easier it was to smile when he glanced her way. She had to be resolute, on top of it, to get them all through this mess, to stave off their many enemies, and Bellamy had distracted her. He had to be the prettiest distraction she'd ever met.

And now she was stuck in this godforsaken car with the two of them, and all she wanted to do was run and run and run until she forgot about stupid Bellamy and his soon-to-be latest conquest.

Mel was pressing herself against Bellamy, and though he didn't seem to be responding in kind, Clarke thought it must have been because he was at least smart enough to realize he couldn't start something right here in this car. Instead, he seemed intrigued by their surroundings. "How did you know this was here, Princess?" he asked.

Clarke shrugged. She didn't really feel like talking to him. "Finn found it."

Bellamy studied Clarke, noting her glassy eyes. She seemed agitated, and upset. He assumed she was thinking about Finn, about the atrocities he'd committed, and what the future held for him. He knew Clarke and the Spacewalker were close, and it made him burn deep inside. And Bellamy had fucked up at the beginning. Finn had been there for Clarke when she'd needed it, and he hadn't. Finn hadn't started out as an adversary. Bellamy knew he could never compare to Finn.

The girl beside him piped up. "Who's Finn?" she asked. Bellamy looked down at her for the first time. He remembered her. Mel, the only survivor of Factory Station, and Sterling's friend. He also realized that she must have been the one who was lowering Clarke down to get the seaweed. What was she doing out here, so far from Camp Jaha? "Is he your boyfriend?" Mel asked, pressing herself further into Bellamy's side.

"No. He's not my boyfriend," Clarke said quietly.

"Did you sleep with him?" Mel pried.

Bellamy knew the question was rude, and part of him wanted to tell Clarke she didn't have to answer it, but he was curious. He didn't know what exactly had transpired between the two of them, but for some reason, he found himself _needing_ to know the answer.

"Yes," Clarke whispered. Bellamy's fists clenched and unclenched when he saw how sad Clarke was. Finn had done this, and though whatever tryst he and Clarke had shared was put to rest when Raven came down to the ground, he knew the signs of a broken heart.

Clarke didn't look up at them. She didn't even want to see what Bellamy's face looked like. Pity? Disdain? Or worse – maybe he wouldn't care at all. For some reason, she didn't think she could take that.

Mel didn't seem malicious, only curious, and Clarke settled back. "I'm just going to rest my head until the fog breaks, okay? Let me know when it ends." She closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was somewhere far, far away.

* * *

><p>The door to the car opened as Bellamy poked his head out, affirming that the acid fog had passed. He pulled himself out of the car, and then reached down to pull out Mel. She lingered around him, running her hand from his shoulder to his forearm, and Bellamy looked down and realized he was too late to help Clarke out of the car; she was already pushing herself out.<p>

Something had changed in the last day, and he felt himself unusually attuned to everything Clarke. Like right now, she seemed to be furious, but he couldn't tell why. Part of him wanted to roll his eyes. Growing up with Octavia and his mom, he was no stranger to angry women. But this was Clarke – if she was mad, she'd have a good reason.

And he couldn't ask her with Mel flitting around. They hardly knew her, and he knew Clarke would never divulge anything while she was present. "Mel, do you mind giving Clarke and I a minute alone?" he asked.

Her smile dimmed somewhat, but it was back a moment later. "Sure!" she piped. "I'll be just ahead, okay." She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze before bouncing ahead.

"You didn't have to do that," Clarke said. "She's obviously into you."

"That's because I saved her life," he half-smiled at her, and while part of her wanted to wipe that stupid look off his face, she also found herself irresistibly drawn to how adorable he looked at the moment. Argh! She hated this!

"Then why don't you go to her?" Clarke asked, giving him the cold shoulder.

It suddenly dawned on him that Clarke might be jealous, and the thought made him nearly giddy for some reason. "Princess, are you _jealous_?"

Clarke shot him a nasty look, but there was no real venom behind it. "Please, Bellamy. Keep dreaming."

"I was dreaming. Last night. You were there." The look he sent her was positively _feral_.

Clarke swallowed hard. She was there. She did remember. But if that was the case… "Well, I guess you just have a thing for saving girls, Bellamy. First Mel, then me, then Mel again. A regular old knight in shining armor."

"What do you mean 'Mel again?'" Bellamy was confused. Yes, he'd helped rescue her the first time, but he couldn't recall another incident.

"In the clearing. With the Grounders. It was like an hour ago, Bellamy. Do I need to check that head wound again?"

And suddenly, it clicked. Bellamy reached out and grabbed her hand, slowing her to a stop. She didn't want to look at him, but he waited until she met his eyes. "Clarke, I stepped in front of Mel because I knew you were perfectly capable of defending yourself. I respect you as both a leader and a friend, and that Grounder would have been a fool to test his luck against you." He chuckled. "Especially after you'd already decked his friend with your tree branch of fury."

Clarke's mind was blank. He hadn't chosen Mel because he'd _picked_ her; he's chosen Mel because he believed in Clarke in enough to know she didn't always need protection. He thought she was strong and capable. She felt warm all over, and she tried desperately to stop the smile blooming on her face, but she failed.

Bellamy tugged her closer, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. "And I might be a knight in shining armor, but you know what they say, Clarke. The knight is the one who always gets the princess."

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><p>AN: WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MIDSEASON FINALE. So, I wrote this chapter a few days ago before the midseason finale, and I hope this doesn't come off as insensitive to Finn, because I actually really loved him at the beginning (and in fact, that episode was so emotional at the end that it inspired me to write a little drabble, which you can find on my profile), and I think the way that he went out was just amazing. This story is now pretty non-canonical, but maybe it can merge at some point in the future, because I haven't decided how to deal with Finn yet here. Let me know if you care either way. And remember, if you liked this, I'd love to hear about it in a review - that always has me writing way quicker ;) Thanks for reading, and happy holidays! xoxo, TATF


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, or else I'd never make all the fans suffer through such a long winter hiatus!

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><p><span>Chapter 11<span>

When they returned to Mel, there was no longer a sense of anger shrouding them, and Clarke didn't even mind as Mel flitted around Bellamy. And she found every excuse she could to touch him. She was constantly stumbling, or gripping his arm when the wind rustled leaves or birds flew through the air. Clarke was actually amused at the sight of Bellamy's total indifference toward her, and she even let a small, self-satisfied smile slip onto her face from time-to-time.

A short time later, they reached the dropship. Bellamy gently lifted Mel's hand off his arm and grabbed his gun, ready for anything. He walked ahead, and when Mel tried to follow, Clarke put an arm out to stop her.

"O?" Bellamy called, walking into the silent dropship. After a moment, he popped his head out and motioned for Clarke and Mel to follow.

Inside, Octavia sat with Lincoln, who lay conscious but shaking on the floor, tremors wracking his body as the withdrawal hit him hard. "You've been giving him plenty of fluids?" Clarke asked, examining him.

"Yes. He was in an aggressive state until a few hours, and now he's just been shaking." Clarke got close enough to open one of his red, bloodshot eyes, and she saw his pupils rapidly moving back and forth. This seemed wrong. Lincoln suddenly started to seize.

Octavia pushed Clarke to the side, yelling, "Lincoln? Lincoln!"

"What's happening?" Bellamy asked Clarke, who shook her head.

"I don't know. I think it's whatever they've pumped into him… Seems like the withdrawal is stopping his heart."

Octavia was crying, "Help him, Clarke!"

Lincoln's seizing suddenly stopped, and Bellamy lifted Octavia up and off of him, holding her while his implored Clarke to help. She kneeled and felt his pulse… which was silent. No heart beat.

Clarke immediately got on his chest and began to do CPR. "C'mon, c'mon!" she muttered, hoping against all hopes that this would work.

It didn't. Nothing was working. Octavia let out a keening wail, and even Bellamy felt his eyes prick with tears. He would never say that Lincoln and him were friends, and nor did they even really like each other, but they did see eye-to-eye on one thing: protecting Octavia, no matter what the cost. Bellamy knew that no matter what, Octavia and Lincoln were head over heels in love, and the Grounder have proved himself time and again willing to forsake anything and everything to protect his little sister. He looked at Clarke, seeing panic in her eyes.

Clarke tried to take a deep breath. Medics had to be calm and levelheaded, even in the face of crisis, and for not the first time, and definitely not the last, Clarke felt her will being tested. But he was dead… His heart had stopped, CPR wasn't working, so what could she do?

She looked at Octavia, sobbing in Bellamy's arms, and Bellamy… He was looking at her, but not with horror or disappointment. He was looking at her like he knew she could do this. He gave her a nod, eyes resolute, and suddenly, Clarke knew she could.

She looked around. They were in the same room where they had first held Lincoln captive in the first place. All this time, and just to come full circle. Tensions had been high. Clarke thought how the urgency of that situation mirrored this one. They had a short amount of time to save Finn, and they would do whatever it took.

She remembered Bellamy stabbing a pike through Lincoln's hand, but it had really been Raven who had gone ballistic, firing up an electrical current to shock Lincoln into talking.

_That was it_! Raven had electrocuted Lincoln! Clarke spun around and saw that the cables were still there. Nobody had touched them after Lincoln had escaped, instead choosing to forget the nasty affair had ever happened in the first place.

Clarke stood up, fired up the transformer by pulling on a lever, grabbed the two cables, and with a quiet, "Here goes nothing," she jabbed them onto Lincoln's chest.

His body jolted, and Octavia cried out. Nothing. Clarke took another deep breath and then shocked Lincoln again, and this time, he woke up with a gasp.

Octavia rushed over, her face gripping his cheek. "Lincoln," she cried, hoping, praying that he would be okay.

Lincoln groaned and opened his eyes, looking over at Octavia. Clarke noticed that some of the bloody capillaries seemed to have receded, leaving his eyes still bloodshot and worn, but clear. "Octavia?" he asked, and she cried in relief, cradling his head.

Clarke felt the crackling cables stop their humming, and she turned to see Bellamy had shut off the transformer. She dropped the cables by her side, feeling the delayed adrenalin rush. She'd done it. Lincoln was okay, and the drug seemed to be gone from his system.

Clarke turned to see Mel huddling in a corner, looking completely terrified by this turn of events. She nodded her head at the girl, and then at Bellamy. "We should give them a minute." And with that, she headed outside, waiting for the other two to follow so that Lincoln and Octavia could have a short, joy-filled reunion.

* * *

><p>Outside, Clarke finally allowed herself a break as she slumped against the cold side of the dropship. Things on the ground were never boring, were they?<p>

She saw Mel grab Bellamy's hand, and he shot her a patient smile as he quickly extricated himself. Clarke mused silently. Bellamy was so good with everyone, which is why the 100 had originally gravitated toward him as a leader. He had a natural sort of calm, and a captivating charisma that instantly sucked you in. Clarke was sure that if he hadn't have been so mulish and stupid about his _whatever the Hell we want_ ways, she'd have followed him as well.

But she had been wrong too. The 100 needed a leader they could trust not only to keep them together, but also to look out for them, and together the two of them had provided the right direction. They were yin and yang, she and Bellamy, but they'd done this together, and she found herself wondering how she had never felt this pull towards him before. It was as if he were the sun, and she was caught in his orbit.

Suddenly, she heard a shout of frustration from Mel across the clearing. She drew back from Bellamy as if stung. She rushed with a huff back into the dropship. Clarke looked questioningly at Bellamy, who shrugged.

Mel rushed back out, hastily slinging her pack over her shoulder. She glared venomously at Clarke, and she ignored Bellamy completely as she made to head out of the vicinity. Clarke stood up, quickly catching up with her. She noticed Bellamy standing his ground. "Mel, where are you going?"

The girl spun around, and Clarke couldn't believe how much hatred she saw in her eyes. "I'm leaving. Going back to Camp Jaha. Not like you guys wanted me here anyway."

"We're going back too, but just as soon as we make sure Lincoln's doing okay. Just wait a while. It's safer to travel in groups," Clarke said, unsure where this sudden aggression was stemming from. She reached out to put a hand on Mel's shoulder, but the girl recoiled.

"Don't touch me. You put on this act, like some little goody-two-shoes, but you're not better than the rest of us," Mel leaned in, her voice quiet. "And being another one of Bellamy Blake's conquests will just prove that."

Shocked, Clarke just stood there as Mel turned and began to head out into the woods. Within seconds, she was lost from sight in the dense forest.

Bellamy walked up, looking off in the direction Mel had gone. "What was that?" Clarke asked.

Bellamy shrugged. "She was propositioning me. I said no."

Clarke looked at him sideways, crossing her arms over her chest. "Doesn't seem very like you."

He actually looked hurt, and Clarke bit her tongue. She knew that wasn't true, but for some reason the thought of Mel and Bellamy made her so angry she could barely think straight. "C'mon, Clarke. It hasn't been like that in a long, long time. We were all the most feral versions of ourselves when we first landed here."

Clarke swallowed. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Could you say that again? I don't think I heard you right."

Clarke shoved him. "Don't push your luck, Blake."

He smirked rakishly at her. "All right, but I'll never forget this moment."

"It can't be the first time you've pissed off a girl so much she's stormed away from you."

"Ha, ha. Very funny. I meant your conceding to me that I'm right."

"I know when to apologize," Clarke muttered.

"Besides, my saying no wasn't what pissed her off the most."

"Oh?" Clarke asked, curious.

"She asked why, and I told her that I couldn't because there was someone else in the picture. The days of bedlam Bellamy are over."

Clarke felt her face heat up, and she looked up and met his intense stare. She felt rooted to the spot, like she couldn't break away. Her heart pounded. "And who's that?" she nearly whispered.

But the tense atmosphere abated when Bellamy chuckled and then turned around, heading toward the dropship. He called out over his shoulder, "Like I said earlier, Princess. If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you!"

He walked inside, leaving her alone with a warm feeling in her gut, and she felt herself smile. And it was then that she realized how loud silence was when all you could hear was your heart.

* * *

><p>Mel screeched in annoyance as another branch caught her long hair, and she lashed out, breaking it. She huffed and set on her way again. These stupid woods. The ground wasn't so great. In fact, it'd been pretty awful so far. And here she'd thought Bellamy liked her, but she'd clearly misread the situation. She'd known, though, from the second she'd seen him hugging that blond bitch that there was something there, but she'd ignored it. Bellamy had saved her, after all. Scaled a cliff for her.<p>

But he'd jumped off a cliff for Clarke too. And Mel could tell that something had happened after that too. The two of them seemed to just drift toward each other, like some kind of magnetic pull.

But then Bellamy had saved her again from the Grounders, and Clarke seemed to be angry about something in the car. Mel had thought her luck was turning. Sure, Bellamy didn't seem to be responding, but time could fix that. She had her ways. As long as Clarke was out of the picture, she felt sure that she would win him over in due course.

Then they'd talked. Mel hadn't know what about, but it was clear that after that, the two of them were closer than ever. It was all very back-and-forth, and annoying, to say the least. Mel had finally decided to proposition Bellamy in hopes that she could snatch him up before it was too late, but she hadn't acted quickly enough.

_"Mel," Bellamy had said, gentle. She was sure he was about to acquiesce, but then, "I'm flattered, but there's someone else. I'm sorry."_

_What? This wasn't how this was supposed to go. "It's Clarke, isn't it?" He didn't say anything, but they both knew it was. "Newsflash, Bellamy. She's obviously still hung up on that guy Finn. And let me tell you something. A guy like you doesn't get with a girl like her." _

_He didn't lash out angrily, as she half-expected him to. "I'll never know if I don't try, will I?" he'd asked. Frustrated, Mel screeched before she headed towards the dropship. It was time to go._

Mel's thoughts were interrupted when's she suddenly noticed smoke start to waft up around her, and she coughed as she tried to cover her mouth and nose. It was no use, and she felt herself growing faint, but not before she saw men in suits and masks carrying guns make their way towards her. And then she saw nothing.

* * *

><p>AN: Hey guys, first I want to give a shout-out to my beta S.B., because I only started writing this story when both of us were feeling particularly angsty about the show/Bellarke and couldn't wait for the next episode! So thank her for encouraging me to write it :) And secondly, just wanted to give a shout-out to this whole Bellarke fanfiction community. All of you who read and review are AMAZING, and the other authors on this site write things that make me happy, sad, giddy, angsty... Everything. You guys are all awesome, so just know I appreciate it. Remember that reviews make the writing faster, and otherwise, hope you all had a great weekend! xoxo, TATF


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I love them and also this fun little fan community they've inspired. Happy reading!

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><p><span>Chapter 12<span>

Back in the dropship, Clarke crept through the entrance and found herself facing the solid wall of Bellamy's back. She peeked around him and saw Lincoln and Octavia huddled quietly in a corner, whispering softly with giant smiles on their faces. Clarke looked up at Bellamy's face, but all she saw was a blank façade. If anything, Bellamy was good at tamping down his feelings, but she wondered what he must be feeling seeing his little sister in the embrace of a man she was clearly devoted to.

Clarke put her hand on the back of Bellamy's shoulder blade, and he glanced back at her. She slid her hand down the length of his arm until she found his hand, and she loosely looped her fingers through his, giving a quick squeeze. The corners of his lips turned up, and he squeezed her hand back.

Octavia noticed them there, glancing down at their conjoined hands before Clarke quickly separated from Bellamy, taking a step away for good measure. She stood up, leaving Lincoln resting against the back wall, and headed towards them.

When Octavia reached them, she suddenly pulled Clarke into a big hug. Surprised, Clarke merely looped her arms loosely around Octavia's shoulders. "Thank you, Clarke. I can't tell you what this means to me," Octavia whispered before pulling away, smiling.

"I'm not the only one who helped. Without Bellamy, I wouldn't even be here. And without you, I'm not sure Lincoln would have survived this ordeal either."

Octavia nodded. "Right. So we need to stop the Mountain Men from making more Reapers."

"And we need to get our people back, fast," Bellamy stated.

"But we still don't have a way in," Octavia said. "We had to return here with Lincoln instead of finding one."

Clarke gave a little half-smile. "_We_ might not know the way in, but we have someone who does." Clarke looked toward Lincoln, and the Blake siblings followed her gaze.

* * *

><p>Some time later, Bellamy led the group through the woods as they headed to Camp Jaha, Octavia helping the recovering Lincoln behind him, and Clarke bringing up the rear. Clarke flushed thinking about what Octavia had whispered to her just as they'd readied to leave. <em>Don't think I didn't notice you wearing Bel's shirt<em>, Octavia had said, laughing when Clarke's face heated.

"The first thing we need to do when we get back is warn them about the possibility of the radio frequency being a trap," Clarke said, huffing as she stepped over a fallen log. She looked ahead to where Octavia had an arm on Lincoln's shoulder, helping him when necessary. "Then that's where you come in, Lincoln."

Lincoln didn't say much. He was normally pretty stoic, and very sparse with his words. The only one who really seemed to elicit any kind of emotional response from him was Octavia. Now, though, he grunted in affirmation. "Many of my memories are foggy, but I can retrace my footsteps that lead to an underground laboratory where they breed Reapers." If he were a lesser man, Clarke was sure he would have shuddered.

"Monroe, Murphy, and Finn can come with us. Raven too if she's up for it," Bellamy stated from the front.

Octavia snorted. "Obviously she will be. It's Raven."

Clarke shook her head. "I think we might need a bigger detail with us. There's bound to be Reapers down in the tunnels, not to mention that Mt. Weather's soldiers will be fully armed and know the area."

The trees around them began to thin as they neared Camp Jaha, and Clarke breathed a sigh of relief. What an insane two days it had been, and while she was sore, battered, and exhausted, she was comforted by the fact that they'd saved Lincoln, and that was one step closer to getting the Grounders on their side. Maybe if she could convince them that they could turn back Reapers, that they shared a common enemy, they could fight side-by-side, comrades in arms.

The sun was setting as they walked the final stretches to camp, Lincoln now leaning heavily on Octavia. A Guard at the entrance eyed Lincoln, but nodded at Clarke and the Blake siblings as they entered. The first thing Clarke noticed was that it was quiet… almost eerily so. People should be hustling around with evening activities, getting ready for supper and then bed. She noticed some people, but mostly older camp members and children scuttling around.

Clarke turned to the Guard. "Where is everyone?"

Before he could respond, Clarke heard her name being called, "Clarke!" She turned to see Raven rushing up to her, her leg nearly healed.

She stopped in front of them, giving a bright but crooked smile as she took in the whole group. "Leave it to you guys to rush off just as things get dramatic."

"What's going on?" Clarke asked, cutting through Raven's joking. She found it surprising her mother hadn't rushed out to greet her, or at least scold her, and a sinking feeling began to grow in her gut.

"I think we found a way in to get our people. Radio signal mentioned that guards would be vacating a top entrance to Mt. Weather at 17h00 to quell a Reaper disturbance in the tunnels below the mountain. Abby took most of the guard there to get our people back!" Raven looked excited, but her face fell when she noticed Clarke and Bellamy share a grim glance. "What is it?"

"Raven, what if the radio was a trap? What if they wanted us to listen in on them?" Clarke asked, and Raven began to shake her head.

"It can't be –"

"And now we've walked right into their trap. Our people are right where they want them," Bellamy growled, frustrated.

Raven's eyes seemed to come alive. "Hey, we don't know that. How could they even know we'd tapped into their frequency?"

"They've had our people for days now. Who knows how much information they have on the rest of us? I'm sure they will have talked about Raven, the mad technology genius," Bellamy rasped.

Clarke put a hand on his arm to calm him, and she noticed Raven clocking the action. She looked back at Bellamy. "Our people wouldn't have talked."

"Not willingly," Clarke agreed. "But you don't know what it was like down there. They were lulling everyone into a sense of security, but they had cages full of Grounders, waiting to be harvested for their blood. These are not good people, Raven. Bellamy is right."

Raven turned, frustrated, and kicked a scrap laying on the ground. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I can't believe I didn't think about this. I _never_ let people get the better of me."

"And they never will again. When you're close to something, it's hard to think straight all the time." Clarke sent Raven a small smile. "I would know."

"We need to get to our people before they reach that entrance on Mt. Weather," Bellamy said. Clarke nodded, when a sudden gunshot sounded in the woods. She barely time to register what was happening before she was running, Bellamy and Raven calling her name behind her.

She sprinted through the woods, hearing another shot, closer this time. She ducked and saw a body on the ground, dressed in a protective suit, lying unmoving. Slumped near a tree with his back to her was another figure, with long, brown hair, breathing hard. _Finn_.

Clarke's breath caught in her throat, and she pushed her leg muscles to run harder. By the time she reached the figure, she realized it wasn't Finn; it was Murphy.

He was breathing hard, blood covering his face from a large gash on his head, and he was bleeding badly from a gunshot wound through his shoulder. Clarke took off her jacket and pressed it to his shoulder, knowing she needed to staunch the bleeding. Murphy grunted, and his eyes lolled, but he seemed to notice Clarke.

"Trying to save me, Princess? I'm flattered, really," he drawled, though he sucked in a quick breath when she pressed harder against the wound.

Bellamy caught up, eyes seeing red when he saw Clarke closely huddled with Murphy. But he noticed Murphy was bleeding, and Clarke was just being Clarke by trying to save him. He turned an intense gaze on Murphy. "What happened?"

"Mountain Men, everywhere. We thought our enemy was preoccupied… They weren't. They surrounded us, choked us with smoke. There were too many of them. Me and another took off here, to warn you. We were followed…" He was breathing hard at this point, his eyes squeezed shut and face clammy. Bellamy looked to Clarke, who shook her head.

Murphy opened his eyes, which were starting to fog. "And who'd've thought I'd be a hero in the end, huh?" He laughed, but it came out more as a wheeze.

"Stop talking, Murphy," Clarke said quietly. She couldn't get the bleeding to stop. It didn't look good.

"Clarke, stop," Bellamy said, reaching out.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Princess," Murphy said.

"This isn't what I wanted," Clarke said quietly, finally releasing pressure on his shoulder.

"I know," his breathing was labored. "Do you forgive me?"

Murphy had done a lot of things wrong, but he was one of them, and he'd come a long way in the end. Clarke reached out and took his hand, trying to smile at him like she'd once done for Atom. "Yes, Murphy. We all forgive you."

He smiled, and Clarke felt tears prick her eyes. And then he was gone.

* * *

><p>AN: I know! It got kind of dark! Sorry for everyone who loves Murphy, but at least he was redeemed here at the end? Things are about to heat up. I wrote a chapter last night (that'll come out in a few days) that made me SO excited for what's to come. The plot of this is just sort of writing itself, which is always fun. Anyway, shout-out to you wonderful readers and reviewers - reviews make me want to write-write-write :) Thanks for checking this out, and happy holidays, one and all! xoxo, TATF


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters. Happy holidays, lovely readers!

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><p><span>Chapter 13<span>

Raven and the others had caught up by now, but Clarke sat on her knees, hands covered in Murphy's blood and staring at his body. Vaguely, she noticed Bellamy's hand on her shoulder. She couldn't save him. Murphy was nobody's favorite person, but he had been a hero in the end. He'd come back to warn them about the Mountain Men.

Raven was sifting through the dead Mt. Weather soldier's belongings. "Looks like Murphy shot him a couple of times before he went down. These suits are hardcore. Have to go for the neck or armpits to really do some damage." She pulled out what looked to be some sort of small device. "Jackpot."

Behind her, Octavia and Lincoln stood, and Lincoln's face radiated hate as he stared at the soldier's body. "And they think we are savage," he spat.

Raven turned the device over, finally pressing a button. A piercing screeching noise emitted from the remote, and everyone's hands flew up to their ears. Lincoln suddenly collapsed the ground, his body going completely inert. "Lincoln!" Octavia shouted. Raven released the button in surprise, and the noise stopped.

"What the Hell was that?" Bellamy said as everyone recovered.

"Some sort of high frequency pitch. Not disabling, but annoying," Raven muttered, careful not to set it off again.

"Are you okay?" Octavia whispered to Lincoln, his face in her hands. He nodded, sitting up.

"That's what they use. On Reapers to make sure we – they – can't attack them," Lincoln informed her.

Clarke finally looked away from Murphy's body. "I've heard this sound before, when I was escaping with Anya." She stood up, walking over to Octavia and Lincoln. Bellamy hovered closely behind her. "That device is what they use to repel Reapers," she said, realizing what this meant.

"Temporarily," Lincoln squeezed his eyes shut.

"You probably just have some leftover drug in your system, but it should flush out in the next few days. You won't be one of those things again," Clarke said soothingly, knowing exactly what he feared.

Lincoln looked her straight in the eye, and gave her an almost imperceptible nod – what Clarke knew to be him thanking her.

"Now what?" Octavia asked.

Clarke stood. "Now we have a way to disable to the Reapers so we can focus on the Mountain Men."

"And now we know where the weaknesses in their armor are," Bellamy said, gesturing at the body.

"And now it's time we kick some Mountain Men ass," Raven hissed.

* * *

><p>After a brief but emotional burial for Murphy, the group had decided that they should head back to camp and get some sustenance before heading out again, because being weak didn't do anyone any good. Clarke sat by a fire, not as hungry as she should be. Raven plopped down next to her. "Nice shirt," Raven said.<p>

Clarke looked down. She'd completely forgotten she was still wearing Bellamy's shirt. She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them. "It's not mine."

"Clearly. I've heard that the big shirt gives off a 'recently fucked' vibe, though, and that combined with the new hairdo seems to be working for you."

"Raven…"

"What? Despite all this shit, sure seems like you're glowing today. Something happen out there?" Raven nudged her a bit, and Clarke felt herself beginning to smile.

"Nothing. Just got myself in a dangerous situation, and Bellamy saved me."

"And then you guys fucked."

"No! God, you're so crude."

"And you're acting like a princess." Raven and Clarke both saw Bellamy trying to get Octavia to eat more from across the camp. Lincoln seemed bemused by the entire situation as the Blakes' tempers both rose. "Wouldn't blame you if you had, though. Goodness knows he's great between the sheets."

Clarke felt like blood was roaring through her ears. "What?"

Raven shrugged. "It was one night. Finn and I were done, and I don't know… Bellamy was there. He's actually a pretty decent guy, when you peel away that caveman layer."

Clarke swallowed hard, and Raven noticed. "I pretty much seduced him, if it makes you feel better, and nothing has happened since. Plus, I think it's pretty clear he only has eyes for one person."

"It's none of my business."

Raven snorted. "Keep telling yourself that. But just so you know, I don't have plans to go stealing your man."

Clarke wanted to protest, telling Raven that Bellamy wasn't her man, but she was curious about something. "Because you're into someone else?"

Surprisingly, Raven seemed to grow a little bit shy. Clarke was fascinated. She'd never seen Raven like this. Raven, the most badass, toughest and smartest chick she'd ever known. Raven, who somehow always wound up getting involved with the same boys as her… Raven was acting shy! "Maybe."

"Okay, now you _have_ to tell me."

Raven shrugged, though her giddy smile threw off the carefree act. "He's just this engineer I worked with from time-to-time on the Ark."

Raven looked across the clearing, and Clarke followed her line of sight to see a man grabbing a drink. He looked at Clarke and Raven, lifting his cup in the air as if toasting them, before he ducked into a tent. "Wick. You like Wick."

"Maybe."

Clarke nodded. It made sense. "I don't know him well, but he seems like a good guy. And Raven?"

"Yeah?"

"You deserve a good guy. You really do."

Raven smiled. "Yeah? Think so?"

"I know so."

"Damn right. And Clarke?"

"Hmm?"

"You do too."

They continued talking and laughing, grabbing what small bit of happiness they could enjoy before their upcoming journey.

* * *

><p>Bellamy heard laughing from across the fire and turned to see Raven and Clarke nearly doubled over with amusement. He smirked. Those two were firecrackers, and anyone who didn't see that was a fool. He turned back to Octavia. "You sure you won't eat <em>anything<em> else?"

"I'm _fine_, Bel. God, you're taking this overprotective brothering thing to the next level."

"We just need to be at our strongest when we go after our people," he protested.

"And I've eaten my fill. What I need most right now is to look after Lincoln so we're all completely ready to go." Octavia smiled mischievously. "So go."

Bellamy cocked his head at her, dark eyes questioning.

"I know there's someone who you want to look after." Octavia's eyes flitted across the clearing, and Bellamy felt his face heat. Octavia always was a little too meddlesome for her own good, but he knew her intentions were straight and true. He gave her a light shove before he set off across the clearing, straight towards Clarke and Raven.

"I don't need to be looked after," Lincoln stated behind her.

Octavia turned, giving him a light kiss. "I know. But he does."

* * *

><p>Clarke felt more than saw Bellamy sit down beside her. It was like her entire being relaxed, knowing her was nearby. Raven suddenly stood up. "Well, fearless leaders, I've got some things to deal with before we take off."<p>

"Do those things involve a rather handsome engineer?" Clarke teased, feeling light after her newfound connection with Raven.

"This girl doesn't kiss and tell, so I guess you'll never know," Raven said sassily before shooting a knowing glance at Bellamy and then bouncing off.

Clarke turned to Bellamy. He held up his hands. "Do I even want to know?"

"I don't know. Girl talk might be a little too much for you," Clarke said lightly.

"You underestimate my way with women," Bellamy said, a smirk growing on his face.

"I just heard," Clarke said, and Bellamy's face fell a bit.

"Raven told you."

"She did."

"It didn't mean anything."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me."

"I know, but…" He seemed to be grappling with the right words. "I want to. I want you to know that she wanted comfort, and I gave it to her."

"How magnanimous of you."

"I wouldn't do that now."

Clarke knew he wouldn't. Something was different, after these last two days, and it scared her. She wanted him close by, wanted to seek comfort in him. "Bellamy?"

"Clarke."

"How did you know I was in trouble?"

"You're always in some kind of trouble. You wouldn't be such a pain in my ass if you weren't," he joked.

She shook her head. "No, I mean when I was trying to get more seaweed. How did you make it there just in time?"

"I don't know. It's like I had this feeling, this urge to just find you..." He seemed frustrated, like he couldn't find the right words. "Gut feeling, I guess."

Clarke smiled. "Well, I'm glad you trusted your instincts. You should do that more often."

His instincts right now were urging him to lean in and kiss her like she'd never been kissed before. His blood stirred, and he felt himself leaning toward her. "Is that a challenge?"

"You like challenges, don't you?" She was leaning too.

"Can't say I used to be fond of them." His eyes shot down to her lips, and then back up to her eyes. "But there's one that might have changed my mind."

"What's that?" Clarke breathed. They were so close now. She felt like he was invading her personal space, or maybe she was invading his, but she couldn't pull away.

"This one challenge that never stops arguing with me, and pushing me. That makes me do things like jump off a cliff. _She_ makes me want more than I've ever wanted anything in my life."

Clarke leaned further, only to lose balance and practically topple into Bellamy's lap. His hands gripped her arms, hoisting her up, the contact electrifying…

"Bellamy!" They both drew back at a shout from Octavia. "Look!"

And in the distance, they saw lights pop up close by, until the entire horizon was dotted with bright spots. "Grounders," Bellamy swore.

He looked at Clarke, but she was still staring at the torch lights. "We're under attack."

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><p>AN: Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and hope everyone everywhere is having a safe and relaxing evening :) Putting this out as a little present to you faithful and wonderful readers, so please enjoy! Also, I was thinking of changing this from **T **to **M** for possible things to come in future chapters (yepppp, I know what you guys want), but I'm going to wait until we get to those chapters. Remember, Bellarke is a slow burn ;) So anyway, remember reviews = inspiration, and have a very awesome night! xoxo, TATF


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, or the awesome cover art on this story!

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><p><span>Chapter 14<span>

The remaining members of Camp Jaha huddled in a group, clearly terrified. Clarke wanted to tell them to go inside, that it would be okay, but she knew from her time living here on Earth that she couldn't make such promises.

"Who's in charge here?" Clarke asked everyone. "Who did my mom leave in her absence?" No one answered. Bellamy and Clarke shared a look.

Raven made her way towards Clarke, Wick on her trail, and another man Clarke recognized to be Sinclair behind them. He had been in charge of supervising the camp's construction, and on the Ark, he had been the one to give Raven permission to be trained for Zero G despite her heart murmur.

"I'm temporarily Chancellor," Sinclair said. Clarke appraised him. He seemed intelligent, and kindhearted, but she knew he didn't have the makings of a leader. Being a leader meant knowing when to roll the hard six, when to make costly decisions when there was no right answer.

"I'll position the remainder of the guard at the gates. Everyone should be ready to evacuate if need be," Sinclair said, but Clarke cut through his orders.

"We need to make peace with the Grounders, not run or go to war with them. We need them, and they don't know it yet, but they need us." The camp around them stirred.

"They're savages. We seen the guards tied to trees, killed by 'em," a man in the crowd called, stepping forward. The crowd murmured, already anxious from the many lights from the surrounding Grounders.

"We're invaders to them," Clarke tried again. "But we can convince them. And we _need _them."

"We need to get rid of them! That's what I say," another man called out, and the mass murmured its ascent.

Clarke wanted to tell them that they had to fight the Mountain Men, but she realized the detriment that unnecessary fear could cause. Crowds tended to panic and make rash decisions, so she had to keep them calm, but she could sense she was losing them.

And then, suddenly, Bellamy was stepping up, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You don't know what you're talking about. You can listen to a few drunken idiots, or you can listen to those of us who survived down here without walls and weapons, without a trained guard."

At that, the crowd seemed divided. Clarke smiled gratefully at Bellamy. Somewhere between the bickering and decision-making, he'd become her rock, and they'd become a powerful leadership duo that was a force to be reckoned with. Somewhere in there, she'd come to care, and she knew he felt the same.

"He's just saying that because his sister is a Grounder Pounder," someone called, and this time it was Clarke who steadied Bellamy as he nearly lunged forward, enraged that someone would insult Octavia.

"A 17-year-old girl is braver than you," Clarke told the instigators. "She was able to see past the fear and hatred we harbor toward the Grounders, and because of Octavia and Lincoln, we have a chance at peace." Clarke took a deep breath. "And did we really come home after nearly a century to just go back to war? Learn from past mistakes. The ground is a new opportunity, a new life. And we can allow prejudice and fear to worm their way into our hearts, or we can seek peace and use combined force to defeat other common enemies. Let's be the generation to make Earth home."

The crowd began to buzz, agreeing with Clarke, and Sinclair spoke quietly to her. "I can oversee the camp, but I've never been much of a politician. How should we deal with the Grounders?"

Clarke realized that he was looking to her, that she had somehow unwittingly gained the role of temporary Chancellor, if not in name than at least in practice, during her little speech. "A small group of us will go to the Grounders, try to make peace. Me, Bellamy, Octavia, and Lincoln."

"I'm coming too, Clarke," Raven said, but Clarke shook her head.

"We need you here in the camp. You and Wick need to make more bombs, more weapons that we can possibly use against the Mountain Men. If we can find a route through the tunnels, we're still talking about breaking into what's basically a fortress."

"But – "

"We also need you to keep those ringleaders from making trouble, Raven," Bellamy told her. "If anyone can rough 'em up, it's you."

Wick spoke up for the first time, standing back a ways, as if he didn't know whether or not he was invited into this ragtag group. "That's for sure. This one's the troublemaker."

Clarke hid her smile, and Raven smirked. "I don't like it, but fine. Wick and I'll work here to come up with anything we might need. And trust me. I'll keep those assholes in line."

Raven reached out and gave Clarke's hand a small squeeze, as if to say _I know you can do this_, before she walked off, grabbing Wick's hand as they headed for the engineering tent.

"Sinclair, just keep the people calm as best you can," Clarke said, and he nodded.

"Good luck, Clarke." He walked off, immediately calming and soothing still-huddled camp members as they dispersed.

Clarke let out a sigh of relief. She turned to find Bellamy looking at her intensely. "Great speech, Princess. You always know the right answer."

"Ha, ha, Bellamy. I think that was definitely more of a duo victory."

"Sure, I'll share the credit." He grinned at her, but they quickly faded into a more serious mode. They both knew what they had to do. "Time to see the Grounders?"

"Time to see the Grounders," she agreed.

As they walked toward Octavia and Lincoln, Clarke huffed. "Some day we're going to look back on this and it will all be a crazy story of the past. I can't wait to just be a normal teenager again."

Bellamy snorted. "Hate to break it to you, Clarke, but you won't ever be a normal teenager."

"Nice," Clarke muttered. The thought that he didn't think of her as normal, like she could fit in, somehow stung a little. She remembered their Unity Day celebration with Jasper's moonshine, and how he had urged her to relax a little. She knew she hadn't exactly had the time or luxury of being fun lately, but she'd hoped Bellamy would understand why she had to put up this tough façade day in and day out.

And with just a glance, it was as if Bellamy could read her mind. He stopped her, grabbing her hand, and Clarke felt her face heat as he entwined their fingers. "And since I know you're seriously over-thinking this, I didn't mean that in a negative way."

She looked at him questioningly, willing him to go on, and he pulled her closer. "You could never be just normal because you're exceptional, Clarke. And that's a good thing – you'll always be extraordinary." He released her hand. "At least to me."

With that, he continued walking toward his sister, and for once the girl who always had an answer had nothing to say.

* * *

><p>Lincoln led the group with Bellamy close behind, and Clarke and Octavia brought up the rear. Clarke could see that Lincoln was still in rough shape, but she knew he would never complain. "How is Lincoln doing?" Clarke asked Octavia.<p>

"I think he's shaken, but he knows how important a peace treaty would be. We'll get through this. I'm just glad he's okay."

Clarke glanced at Octavia. "And your relationship?"

Octavia blushed, and Clarke remembered the brash girl when they had first landed on the ground, demanding that Clarke back off because Finn was hers. How far she'd come, after Atom's death, and the first meetings with Lincoln. "I think… I love him, Clarke. When we're apart, it's like I see the world in black and white, and when we're reunited, I'm suddenly aware of how beautiful it all is."

"He loves you too, Octavia," Clarke said. "Anyone can see."

Octavia gave a mischievous smile. "I told him earlier that he was my boyfriend, and he didn't understand. I had to explain it to him."

Clarke laughed. "And how did he take it?"

"Pretty well! I don't know how many dates we'll be going on for now, but he told me I was his woman, so I have to guess that he agrees."

"You're your own woman, Octavia. He's lucky to have you."

"Damn right." The two girls laughed, and Bellamy and Lincoln looked back warily.

"I don't trust those two back there, conspiring," Bellamy said.

Lincoln, ever the conversationalist, merely grunted, but Bellamy knew that he agreed by the way his brows drew together. He suddenly paused. "It's too still."

"What?" Bellamy asked. It seemed normal to him… Only he realized he couldn't hear the trilling of birds anymore. The night air was silent around them.

An arrow suddenly struck a tree beside Octavia, and the group was on the defense. Bellamy pulled out a gun while Lincoln wielded two knives. The girl settled into defensive positions, Clarke cocking her gun as Bellamy had taught her and Octavia grabbing a club she'd gained when searching for Lincoln.

Clarke looked through the scope of her gun. "Grounders."

"We're surrounded," Lincoln said.

Grounders stepped out all around them, until a woman emerged, walking directly in front of the group.

"Indra," Octavia whispered, and Clarke noted that they must have crossed paths at some point before.

Indra aimed a large spear directly at Lincoln. "Traitor," she spat.

He lowered his weapon, knowing they couldn't win this fight. "Lincoln?" Octavia asked, edging closer to him.

"Octavia, there's something I forgot to mention earlier."

"What is it?"

"Indra was my… What did you call it? Girlfriend. Some time back."

Octavia started to say something, but was interrupted when Indra hissed at them, motioning to her soldiers. "Take them!"

"Well, this is one way to make an entrance, right, Princess?" Bellamy whispered to Clarke as their weapons were taken, their hands tied.

She rolled her eyes, but he was right. They were headed behind enemy lines, and she desperately hoped that they could secure a truce before it was too late.

* * *

><p>AN: All right, now stuff is about to get crazyyy. So I was talking with a friend of mine, who we'll call KM on here, and she reminded me of my absolute favorite acronym: U.S.T. That means "unresolved sexual tension," and it's PERFECT for Bellarke because of the slow burn. SO GOOD, but also you always want more! It's just too perfect. So anyway, hope you've all had a fabulous holiday, and thanks to my beta S.B. for reading over her vacation. Remember, reviews = inspiration, so I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have a great night, everybody! xoxo, TATF


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own the 100 or its characters, but I miss them during winter hiatus.

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><p><span>Chapter 15<span>

Clarke and the others were marched into the heart of the Grounder encampment, heading for a large tent while other Grounders butted their spears against the ground, catcalling and chanting. Lincoln was completely stoic, shoulders steeled and head held high. Behind him, Octavia also had on a brave face, and Clarke noticed considerably less jeering towards her, and even some apprehensive glances sent her way. Clarke made a mental note to ask Octavia about what had transpired after the Grounders had attacked at the dropship.

They entered the tent, and Clarke found herself facing a proud-looking woman, her features decorated with crazy war paint. Despite her small stature, she was the most imposing Grounder in the room; even Lincoln's tough exterior and Indra's obvious ire didn't measure up to the regal command this woman held over the room and camp as a whole.

Lincoln bowed his head, a sign of respect, and Indra took her place standing to the right of the woman. Octavia remained silent, and Clarke found herself hoping they'd find a way through this safely and respectfully.

"Let's get this party started, shall we?" Bellamy drawled, cutting through the tense atmosphere.

Clarke wanted to face palm. So much for respect. Leave it to Bellamy to go to the heart of the matter. She should have found it exasperating, but she also admired him for it. There was no beating around the bush with Bellamy.

Indra seemed to grow even angrier, if that was possible. "You will show _respect_ to the Commander, or you will lose your tongue."

The woman in the chair – the Commander – held up a palm, silencing Indra. She stood up, walking past Lincoln and Octavia to stand in front of Clarke and Bellamy. "I have heard of you two. They say that the first Sky People to come down were ruled by two as different as day and night." She turned to Clarke. "And I have heard the woman is a healer, with hair the color of the desert sand."

Clarke smiled, hoping that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. "You are the ones who killed 300 of our people," the Commander finished. "And for that, you will burn."

Grounders started to move in on them, and Octavia began to struggle. Clarke hardly knew what was happening when a Grounder grabbed her wrist, only to find herself immediately let go when Bellamy rammed himself into the man who dared to put hands on her. Another Grounder punched him, and his body swung around with the inertia.

Lincoln came to life when Indra moved aggressively toward them, and Octavia suddenly ducked down and swiped her leg out, knocking a Grounder off his feet. She grabbed his spear, using it to slice her bonds, and aimed the spear at Indra before she could reach Lincoln.

Clarke realized that this was about to devolve, and _fast_. She needed to do something. "Wait!" she called. "We can help you bring back your people! We know how to change back the Reapers!"

Nothing was working. They had no other leverage. Clarke tried again. "I knew Anya! She told me you were once her second. We were comrades at the end. She wouldn't want this."

The Commander did turn at this, and her glare belied her calm demeanor. "Do not speak of Anya."

Indra lashed out. "She died in the fiery inferno that took out 300 of our warriors. _You_ killed her!"

"I didn't!" Clarke protested. She reached into her pocket, looking for the cut ponytail of Anya's… But it was gone. Clarke began to panic. Where had it gone?! She remembered her near-drowning, and she realized that it could have easily washed away with the water. Along with any hope they had of making peace…

Just as Clarke was getting ready to fight – because they weren't listening to anything – a voice suddenly rang out. "Lexa! Stop this!"

Clarke recognized this voice. And suddenly, its owner stepped out, and Clarke saw Kane, slightly battered, but very much alive.

The Commander – Lexa – looked a bit irked at having been interrupted, but Clarke clocked how she stilled before she called out a word in Grounder language that must have meant _hold everything_, because the Grounders shrunk back. Indra bared her teeth, ready to continue her attack, and Octavia didn't relinquish the spear, standing close to Lincoln. Bellamy worked his jaw back and forth, and Clarke saw a bruise already forming there.

"This is the daughter of the current leader of my people," Kane said. "If you kill her, there will never be a truce."

"She killed two platoons of warriors," Lexa said, calm and cool and deadly.

"We were defending ourselves," Bellamy ground out.

"And we've saved some of your people, too," Octavia said, and though Clarke didn't know what she was talking about, apparently some of the Grounders did. Octavia stood up taller. "Ai laik Oktaevia kom Skaikru."

Clarke was shocked, but she couldn't help the incredulous laugh that escaped her when she looked to Bellamy, who was staring at Octavia as if she'd grown a second head. Lexa turned at the noise. "You think this is funny, do you?"

"No. We came for peace. We want – no, we _need_ – to put the past into the past to defeat a common enemy. The Mountain Men," Clarke urged. "They have your people, trapped in cages beneath the mountain, being harvested for their blood."

"They also turn your people into Reapers," Octavia began. "Like they did to Lincoln."

Lexa looked to Indra at this, who nodded. "It is true. Lincoln was taken by the Reapers for his treason." Indra turned to Clarke. "But you lie. _No one_ escapes the mountain."

"I did," Clarke said, confidence growing. "With Anya. I could not have done it without her. She cut off part of her hair, of her ponytail, for me to prove this."

"Then where is it?" Indra demanded.

"I… I lost it. It must have been swept away, in the water…" Clarke shook her head, and she felt Bellamy edge closer to her. It gave her strength. "Anya gave it to me because she knew that we must forge an alliance, that we need each other. We didn't come back to the ground after a century to die fighting against people who share many of the same beliefs, and who have had many of the same struggles. We can help you stop the Mountain Men threat, and you can help us get our people back."

Clarke turned to Lexa, who looked thoughtful, if not still intimidating. "Show your people that you are strong and wise, and that you can be merciful. Show them what it means to be a leader."

Kane was looking at Clarke as if he suddenly didn't recognize the girl he'd known before, and Octavia blazed with fierce determination to her side. Lincoln remained tranquil, though Clarke knew he was coiled and ready to protect Octavia if need be, and Bellamy… Bellamy stepped directly next to her, and she could feel the heat radiating off his body. It was reassuring, and it enlivened her. Clarke straightened, awaiting Lexa's decision.

"Clarke of the Sky People… Come. Let us discuss the terms of this treaty." Lexa made a hand signal, and Grounders stepped forward to remove the group's bindings. Clarke rubbed her wrists as soon as they were freed, but she was already turning to Bellamy, almost before she knew what she was doing, throwing her arms around him and burying her face into his neck. The adrenalin was catching up to her, and she took a deep, shuddering breath.

Bellamy wrapped his arms around her, looking up to see Lincoln and Octavia embracing nearby. He looks down at the blonde in his arms. "Look at that. Clarke the badass," he whispered.

She smiled. "You taught me well."

* * *

><p>In a smaller tent, manned with Grounder guards on the outside, Clarke sat with Bellamy and Kane. She had no idea where the man had been, but she did remember Jaha raving about leaving and how Kane was going to be killed when he'd shown up out of the blue. In the corner, Octavia and Lincoln sat talking quietly, quite lost in their own world.<p>

Kane filled the two leaders of the 100 in as they picked at food, and though it was the most delicious thing she thought she'd ever tasted, Clarke didn't find herself with much of an appetite. Instead, she drank the tea they'd given her, which was quite good; even Bellamy had taken to it. She leaned against Bellamy, and she felt his hand on her waist, comforting and supportive. The gesture said, _I'm here for you. I've got you._

"We've had many talks, and I know her fairly well," Kane was saying about Lexa, the Grounder Commander. "I believe she can be reasoned with, and I know that they have unsuccessfully tried to bring back these 'Reapers' before. They've failed every time."

"They must also want to get their people out," Bellamy said. Clarke leaned further into him, knowing how badly he wanted to save their friends, their family. She felt the same, as if all of their lives were hanging on her shoulders, and she could barely breathe with the weight of responsibility.

Kane nodded. "They do, but they also want justice for past events. I tried to explain that you were all children, sent down here by us, that it wasn't your fault. But one thing they cannot forget is the massacre that occurred in a peaceful village. The culprit is Finn Collins."

Clarke stiffened, and Bellamy rubbed small circles on her hip. They couldn't even address this now; Finn had been with the convoy that had gone to Mt. Weather. "He was with my mother and the others." Clarke swallowed heavily. "We don't even know if he's alive." Her voice cracked.

Kane nodded sympathetically. "Lexa will want to know about how to change the Reapers. That is your biggest bargaining chip."

The tent flap was suddenly pushed in as several Grounders entered. They stomped past Clarke's small group and straight toward Octavia and Lincoln. Bellamy was on his feet instantly, ready to defend his little sister, but the Grounders were clearly there for Lincoln. Octavia cried out as they seized him. "What are you doing with him?!"

Indra stepped into the tent. "This traitor must pay for his sins. He will die at dawn," she drawled.

Clarke and Bellamy struggled to push their way toward Octavia and Lincoln, but they were held back. Octavia stood suddenly, shouting words in Grounder speak that Clarke couldn't understand. Indra looked astonished, and then sly as a smile spread on her face.

"What's happening?" Bellamy asked, and a nearby Grounder grunted.

"She has challenged Indra, citing a nearly antiquated law," he said.

"What does that mean?" Clarke reached down for Bellamy's hand, and he squeezed, hard.

"It means they will fight to the death for the traitor's life."

* * *

><p>AN: Okay, not to sway your opinions, but the next chapter is my favorite one yet, so I can't wait to post it for all of you. Until then, hope you guys have a spectacular New Years - 2015 is going to be a fantastic year! Thanks to all you wondrous readers, and remember that these stories take hours to write, but only seconds to review, and they mean a lot to authors. Would love your thoughts, and special thanks to those of you who review each week (you guys ROCK)! xoxo, TATF


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, very sadly!

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><p><span>Chapter 16<span>

Clarke blinked her eyes open, squinting as she came to. She didn't know how much time had passed since their conversations in the tent, but it was now morning, so she must have gotten a few hours of sleep, though she wouldn't call it rest. Forced unconscious wasn't the most relaxing way to get through a night.

So here she was, tied by her wrists to a tall pole that had erected on the very edge of what looked to be an arena. To her left, Lincoln hung from his wrists, and he appeared to be staring grimly ahead. On her other side, Bellamy too hung from his wrists, unconscious.

He had gone ballistic last night. There was really no other way that Clarke could describe his sudden burst of fury when he'd heard that Octavia had challenged Indra for Lincoln's life, a fight to the death. He'd immediately begun fighting off any nearby Grounders, downing the two closest to him within seconds.

Indra had bared her teeth in a semblance of a smile, as if Octavia's challenge pleased her. Lincoln had already been dragged away, but the ferocious woman had gladly accepted the challenge, mocking Oktaevia kom Skaikru, Octavia of the Sky People. _At least you die with honor_, Indra had said, and Bellamy had just lost it.

Clarke too had begun to fight, but she'd suddenly realized that her body felt quite lethargic, almost as if the movement and action was making her drowsy. She had glanced down at the tea, and saw Kane follow her look.

"The tea is soporific!" she'd yelled to Bellamy as he decked the first two. She'd begun to sway, and she could feel a sense of vertigo overcoming her. The more she'd moved, the more it seemed to affect her.

"What?!" Bellamy had asked, but he too had begun to feel its effects. He swung wildly at a Grounder who easily dodged, punching him hard in the stomach.

"Sleep-inducing," Clarke had tried to say, but she was already losing consciousness. Next to her, she could see Kane arguing with the Grounders, but they were already apprehending her. She'd lost consciousness then.

And now she had awoken. She didn't see Kane or Octavia anywhere, but she did notice that many Grounders were gathered on the outskirts of the pitch, as if they were readying for something. "Lincoln," she hissed.

He barely turned to her, but she knew he was listening. "What's going on?"

"Octavia is fighting Indra. For my life." He didn't sound too happy about that, and Clarke was sure he was willing to die if it meant keeping Octavia out of harm's way.

"So, what? They're just going to clobber each other in front of everyone until one of them dies?" Clarke asked.

"It's nearly time." As he said that, a chanting seemed to arise from the crowd, and more cheering as Lexa took her seat in a chair under a tent near the arena. She was flanked by many warriors, but Clarke didn't see Kane near her. She hoped he was all right.

Clarke squinted through the light as she noticed Octavia being escorted out by two Grounders. Clarke was impressed with her. She held her head high, unafraid and proud, like she belonged here. And Clarke looked at the reactions. It seemed like she did. Clearly something had happened with the Grounders when Octavia had been on her own with Lincoln, and later when they were through this mess, she was bound and determined to find out what.

That's if they survived long enough to get through this mess. She shook her head. She couldn't think that way. Indra's arrival on the opposite side of the arena caused a loud cheer to rise up among the crowd, and Clarke heard a groan to her side. She turned to see Bellamy stirring.

"Bellamy. Bell." He didn't budge. "_Bellamy_."

She tried a different approach. "Bellamy, if you wake up right now, I promise to give you anything you want."

Lincoln snorted and she turned to him, face burning. And then she heard, "Anything, Clarke? Careful what you wish for."

Her head whipped around and she saw a drowsy Bellamy smirking at her. "Well, had to do _something_ to wake you up."

He seemed amused, but that quickly gave way as he took in their surroundings. He tugged on his wrists, testing the bonds. "What the Hell is going on here?"

"Octavia will fight Indra," Lincoln said. "She must win."

"She will win," Clarke assured him, though she really didn't know. Octavia was a fighter, and this recent version of her seemed tougher than ever, but from what Clarke knew of Indra, the woman was crazed with her hatred of Lincoln, and Octavia's love for him was sure to incense her.

Octavia and Indra walked out into the arena, the chanting growing louder and louder. Bellamy struggled more with his bonds, though to no avail. "Octavia!" he shouted desperately, but Clarke wasn't sure if she'd heard over the crowd. But as if by some force of nature, Octavia looked straight at them. Clarke nodded at her, willing her strength. The only thing to do now was wait.

* * *

><p>Octavia took a deep breath, listening to the chants and noticing Indra smiling across the clearing, clearly geared up and rearing to fight. A large hand clasped her shoulder, and she turned to see Nyko staring at her. She pulled him into a hug. "Oktaevia kom Skaikru, I thought I'd seen it all when you used me as a hostage to save Lincoln, and again when you saved me from the Reapers, but you are even crazier than I had thought."<p>

She smiled, knowing that he considered her a comrade, particularly after she had helped to save him with Indra's crew, and again when they had both mourned the massacre of the village… She couldn't think of that now, though. "I have to save him, Nyko. This is the only way."

He nodded once, knowing she was right. "Indra's strikes are powerful and deadly, but if you tire her out, you may have a chance," he said. With that, he grasped her hand, and she steeled herself.

Octavia stepped into the arena, and the chanting grew in volume. She thought she heard her named being called, and she turned in the direction. She saw Lincoln, Bellamy, and Clarke hung by their wrists to columns standing tall from the ground. She had to win, not just for herself, but for them. Clarke gave her a brief nod, and Octavia felt energized knowing that her brother, her lover, and her friend believed in her.

Lexa held her hand up, and sudden silence overtook the clearing. Lexa looked at the two women in the middle of the arena. "Winner decides the traitor's fate, according to the Old Laws. No weapons are allowed, but you may make use of natural surroundings. Neither opponent may step out of bonds." She looked around, and everything seemed silent for a moment, even the ever-teeming woods. "Begin," she stated.

Indra immediately swept to the side, and Octavia followed her line of sight to a large tree branch lying on the ground. Octavia dashed for it at the same time, but Indra had been closer, and she made it there first. Indra hauled it up and swung it with deadly force at Octavia, who ducked just in time. The inertia sent Indra moving forward, and Octavia kicked her in the back, sending the bigger woman careening forward.

Octavia looked around. What could she use? Indra rushed her again, and Octavia bent down, grabbing a fistful of dirt and flinging it into her opponent's face. The motion made Indra's swings more erratic, but she still managed to connect with Octavia's shoulder, who cried out as she went down. Indra shook her head, trying to clear the sand and dirt from her eyes as Octavia scrambled up.

Indra rushed forward, taking another swing at Octavia, and the younger girl did an incredible back bend, contorting herself in a way that seemed to amaze the Grounders watching. The crowd suddenly didn't seem to sure who to be rooting for, but they were excited about what a good fight Octavia was putting up.

"Living underneath the floor for 16 years was good for something after all," Octavia muttered as she sprung away, thanking whoever was listening for her flexibility and elasticity.

She managed to leap away, but her shoulder was throbbing from Indra's hard hit. Indra came at her again, and Octavia managed to dodge, but she was in pain, and Indra still wasn't showing signs of slowing down. She wasn't sure how much longer she could last.

* * *

><p>Clarke's heart raced as she watched Octavia bound away from Indra with an impressive display of flexibility and strength. Where in the world had she learned how to do that?! Beside her, Bellamy looked just as dumbfounded, but Lincoln gave off a grim smile as if to say, <em>That's my girl<em>.

Bellamy started struggling harder, to the point where one of the Grounders noticed. No one else was paying attention to them, focused instead on the fight at hand, but this man spoke in Grounder tongue to a nearby woman, who nodded and slipped away. Lincoln watched the exchange. He spoke to Bellamy in a low tone. "They're going to further bind you for your struggles."

Bellamy smirked, and Clarke wondered what he was up to. "Good," he stated.

The woman came back with more bindings, and she handed it to the Grounder guard near them, a bulky man who was not wearing a mask. He moved towards Bellamy, who continued his struggles. When the man was nearly upon him, Bellamy suddenly hauled himself up, using his abdominal strength to raise his lower body. He grabbed the guard in a chokehold with his legs, wrapping them around him. The guard tried to call out, but he choked on the words.

"Hey!" Bellamy called out to the woman who had grabbed the bindings, and she turned away from the fight to see the Grounder's face turning slightly blue as he struggled to breathe. She backed up, as if to run for help, but Bellamy shook his head. "Call out and he dies."

Clarke couldn't believe what she was seeing. She didn't think Bellamy would actually kill the man, but if this woman believed him… And she did. She began to edge forward. "What do you want?" she asked fearfully.

"Cut these bonds. I promise not to hurt you or him, but just let me go." The woman nodded, and Bellamy kept his hold on the man. "Try anything and I'll snap his neck," Bellamy said.

The woman went around the back of his pole and cut a rope, loosening the pulley and lowering Bellamy to the ground. He let go of the man, who crumpled to the ground. The woman instantly reached to check him, but Bellamy held out his tied hands. She knew what he wanted, and she cut the ropes for him. "He's okay," Bellamy said soothingly, and she bent to make sure that was true.

Bellamy grabbed the knife and sliced the rope on Clarke's bindings, and then on Lincoln's. She rubbed her wrists as he stowed the knife. "What are you doing?"

"Something stupid." He suddenly grabbed her close, and though they both knew they had to hurry before something happened to Octavia, he suddenly leaned down, pressing his lips to hers – _hard_. Before she could even really respond, he had pulled back. "That's what I wished for." And with that, he was sneaking away, toward the tent where Lexa sat on her throne.

Lincoln grabbed Clarke. "Quickly," he said. "We have to help Octavia."

* * *

><p>Indra swung the branch at her again, but this time she anticipated Octavia's feint to the side, and she let the branch go flying as Octavia ducked around. Indra punched out, hitting the younger girl in the cheek. Octavia went flying across the dirt. She looked up. Indra was breathing hard, but she was still coming.<p>

Someone threw a knife into the arena, and both Octavia and Indra eyed it for a second before they went sprinting after it. The crowd went nuts, excited to see what this new factor would bring to the fight.

Octavia reached it first, but Indra tackled her from behind. Octavia rolled out of the way as Indra punched down again, but as she tried to scramble up, Indra pulled on her hair, yanking her back down. She shrieked, lifting the knife. Could she kill Indra? The crowd waited with bated breath…

But instead of sinking the knife into her opponent, she brought it up to her long hair, the ends of which were still in Indra's grasp, and sliced the knife through it, sheering them off. Strands of hair littered the ground, leaving Indra holding the old ends. Octavia spun around, surprising Indra and kicking her to the ground. The bigger woman's sluggish reaction belied how tired she was from the fight, and Octavia took the opportunity to leap on her, holding the knife to her throat. "Game over," she whispered, and shockingly, Indra grinned up at her.

"Octavia!" Octavia looked up to see Clarke and Lincoln rushing toward her. She kept the knife trained on Indra's throat. "Don't kill her."

In the Commander's tent, Lexa made to stand up, but she suddenly felt a knife pressing to her own throat. "No fast moves," Bellamy said, and the Grounders around her suddenly aimed their spears and knives at Bellamy. They'd been so distracted by the fight that no one had noticed his stealthy entrance. "This is just insurance," he said.

Clarke stood in front of the crowd, with the Blake siblings now holding the Commander and her second at knifepoint. "We came for peace, not this senseless fighting, and certainly not for killing each other."

"You say that with knives to our throats," one Grounder spat out, and the crowd rumbled. Clarke thought about how much this mirrored her own people at Camp Jaha. Would the human race be constantly damned to repeat its history, killing one another for any and all differences?

"Octavia," Bellamy called. She looked at him, and he took in her newly shorn hair and the cuts on her face from scrambling around in the dirt. She was so strong, his little sister, and he was so proud of her. She knew what he wanted as he stared at her, a sort of silent sibling connection, and both Blake siblings released their knives simultaneously, freeing Indra and Lexa.

"We won't be the ones to destroy a peace pact. We can help you stop the Mountain Men, and turn back the Reapers. We never wanted to fight you, and this should prove it. Now are you ready to stand with us?" Clarke asked, looking around before her gaze landed on the Commander.

And amazingly, Lexa smiled. It seemed, Clarke thought, that they were. Time to bring the fight to the mountain.

* * *

><p>AN: Happy 2015, everyone! I can already tell it's going to be an awesome year. Thanks so much to you wonderful readers and reviews, and remember that it takes hours to write, but only seconds to review. Have a great weekend, loves! xoxo, TATF


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I have made at least 5 people start watching it over the past week!

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><p><span>Chapter 17<span>

There were conditions to the Grounders' terms. They had agreed to help storm Mt. Weather through the inner tunnels, which Lincoln could help guide them through, but they made it clear that Lexa or Indra would be wielding the device to incapacitate the Reapers, and that none of the monsters would be harmed now that they believed they could be saved. In addition, when they reached the harvest sanctuary, the number one priority was evacuating both the Grounders and Sky People, but the chamber would be destroyed at first chance.

And finally, the Grounders wanted Finn Collins to pay for his actions. The last one did not sit well with Clarke, and she argued fiercely with Lexa. She couldn't forgive Finn for what he had done, and nor could she pretend that he could be redeemed, but no way was she going to just give him up to suffer the pain of 18 deaths, as Lincoln had told her he would. Bellamy had had to guide Clarke out by the elbow, gripping hard, to end the heated discussion.

He led her out into the woods, and as they breathed in the crisp air, Clarke felt her temper cool. "Where's Octavia?" she asked Bellamy, who sat on a fallen log nearby. They had several hours until they would depart; they would launch their attack below Mt. Weather at nightfall.

"With Lincoln. She had to get attention for her shoulder also, and it seems like she has a new fan club after that fight," Bellamy said, the thought of Octavia's new admirers bringing a smirk to his face.

Clarke nodded. She had asked Octavia after the fight about how she knew some Grounder language, and why she seemed to garner so much respect. Octavia had explained that Lincoln had taught her, and that when he had been captured, Octavia had joined Indra's unit to rescue their people from the Reapers. She had saved Nyko that day, but had been unable to find Lincoln. In retrospect, she realized now that he must have already been brought to Mt. Weather, where they had conducted human trials on him to turn him into one of those monsters.

Indra seemed to have completely changed her tune. It was obvious she still held no love for Lincoln, but she seemed almost enthusiastic about becoming friends with Octavia. It was odd, seeing the ferocious woman joke and slap Octavia on the back, but the fight had bound them together somehow, and Clarke knew that Octavia's decision to fight on Lincoln's behalf had ultimately gained them much ground with Lexa's people.

And it had gained her something too. Clarke had realized how hard she'd fallen for Bellamy. They hadn't discussed the kiss, and Clarke tried to tell herself it had happened in the heat of the moment, but she couldn't forget the feel of his lips on hers, the giddiness that had invaded her mind, the euphoria overrunning her senses. Her heart had felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest, and she would have been just fine with that.

And when he had snuck around Lexa's guard, she'd been impressed. When he had dropped his weapon, at the mercy of the surrounding Grounders, she'd been overwhelmed with admiration. But she wasn't the only one. She had noticed Lexa's eyes appraising him, and she saw admiration shining through in that one glance as well.

And perhaps it wasn't just the Finn thing weighing on her mind. Because that did weigh on her mind, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't the only leader who appreciated Bellamy's steadfastness, or handsomeness, or quick thinking. That perhaps she wasn't the only one who saw him that way.

Which had led to the arguing, the heatedness, and Bellamy bringing her out here to cool her head. She huffed out a loud breath, trying to ease her mind… When something moved around her feet. She took an instinctive step back, and suddenly she felt a sharp pain shoot through her leg. She cried out, stumbling back, and noticed the brown snake slither away quickly, through the forest.

She fell heavily onto her butt, beginning to shake. She didn't know whether it was from fear, or pain, or shock, but Bellamy was suddenly there beside her, lifting her up bridal style and laying her against a tree. "Clarke. What's wrong?" he asked gruffly, one big hand cupping her cheek.

She pointed shakily at her ankle. "A snake, I think. It bit me."

He grabbed her ankle tenderly, rolling up her pant leg as his fingers held her in place. There were two red spots beading to the surface where the fangs had sunk into her, and Bellamy's brows drew together as he looked at it. "What did it look like?"

"Brown… pretty big," she said quietly, holding out her hands to show the length. She suddenly felt dizzy, and like she was too hot even though she knew it was relatively cold outside. She took her jacket off, and Bellamy stared at her.

"What are you doing?"

"So hot… And kind of dizzy."

She felt his hand at her head. "Shit." She blinked her eyes closed, but the hand came back to her cheek, cupping her face. "That thing might have been poisonous, Clarke."

She nodded. He was right. But she hadn't actually dealt with any snakebites. Maybe there was an anti-venom in her backpack? But all her thoughts ground to halt at what happened next.

Bellamy's hand left her cheek as he grabbed her ankle, bringing it up to his face, and unexpectedly, his lips latched onto the wound, and was he… sucking on her ankle?! She suddenly felt hot for an entirely different reason. Was it her, or was the notion of Bellamy's lips on her skin the most erotic sight she'd ever seen? Her hand went to his shoulder, and she didn't know whether it was to steady herself, or steady him, or just tell him thank you. His eyes snapped up to hers, but he continued trying to get the venom out. This time, though, his gaze never left hers, and they continued to stare at one another as he sucked on her ankle.

Two minutes later, Bellamy came up, and he suddenly spat to the side. Clarke looked at him wide-eyed. "What was that?"

He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and came close to her. "Lincoln was telling me about snakes on the way to Camp Jaha earlier."

"He was?"

"Yeah, we were talking about dangerous game, and he mentioned that you had to be careful of the snakes, and that they can actually still bite you even after they've been killed. He told me the best way to get rid of the poison is to suck it out until the blood tastes clean again."

Clarke reached out, and she traced her finger along his top lip. His hand reached out, catching hers, and she suddenly started, surprised at her own actions. "The poison won't hurt you?"

He shook his head. "Not unless I've got an open cut in my mouth, which I don't."

"That seems stupid. You might not know."

He laughed. "I do a lot of stupid things, Princess. You should know that by now. You're the one who always has to clean up my mess."

_I wouldn't give that up for the world right now,_ she wanted to tell him, but the words didn't come to her. That wasn't her personality, and the last thing she wanted to do was come off as a non-opinionated lovestruck girl, even if that's how she felt. Instead, she said, "Thank you."

He smirked, and drawled out, "Although recently, seems like you're finding yourself in more messes than me."

She felt the old banter rise up in her, and the situation began to diffuse. "You wish, Blake. You just _look_ for chances to be the hero."

He shrugged. "Or the anti-hero."

She laughed. "Right. Or that."

"Still feeling dizzy?"

Her world was spinning, but it had nothing to do with the venom, and all to much to do with a certain co-leader. She shook her head. "I'm fine."

He stood up, grabbing the jacket that she'd just taken off. He draped it over her shoulders before reaching out so she could grab his hand. "Ready to go back? We ship out in a few hours, but we should probably have Nyko check you over first."

She nodded. And as they began to walk back to camp, she noticed that he hadn't let go of her hand, but instead they remained intertwined, and she laced her fingers in with his. He squeezed a little tighter, and Clarke felt any remaining heat from the earlier discussions with Lexa completely dissipate. With Bellamy by her side, she was not only ready to go back; she was ready for anything.

* * *

><p>AN: This was a bit of filler to build on the Bellarke of it all, because next chapter we're getting into a really action-packed arc. I'll post that next chapter soon! Anyway, hope everyone is doing well and getting back into the grind of things. Remember that it takes hours to write, but only seconds to review, and reviews = inspiration. Thanks for reading, and have an awesome night! xoxo, TATF


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but my obsession with them continues to grow crazy amounts!

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><p><span>Chapter 18<span>

Clarke took a swig of water from her canteen and wiped the sweat from her brow. After the snake incident, Bellamy had fussed over her until Nyko had given her the go-ahead, giving Bellamy a rather hard (at least in her opinion) "pat" on the back for dealing with the venom so swiftly. Bellamy had grunted, and in a great display of sportsmanship, he'd even humbly thanked the Grounder healer for his help. Bellamy Blake, once self-proclaimed Grounder-killer, had taken the peace talks to heart, and had respectfully developed some kind of rapport with most of the Grounders he'd talked to. That's when Clarke thought she'd seen everything.

They'd begun traveling, and roughly 400 Grounder warriors had accompanied them when Clarke had marched back into Camp Jaha to get Raven and the explosives they'd use to blast their way into the mountain. To her secret satisfaction, the troublemakers from earlier had been too shocked to see Lexa walk side-by-side with Clarke through the camp to raise a rabble.

And when a child from the camp had run up to Lexa, shyly stating that she loved the Commander's eye make-up, and could she teach her how to do that sometime, Clarke had held her breath, but Lexa had merely smiled and told the little girl that she would be a great warrior someday, and when that happened, Lexa would teach her. Clarke hoped the child would never have to experience war as she and the rest of the 100 had, or as the Grounders had with the Mountain Men for decades, but the scene had been touching nonetheless.

The tensest part of the entire interaction had surely been when Lexa and Raven had finally met for the first time. The two women had appraised one another, clearly seeing a strong adversary in the other. The tense silence had been broken when Raven had finally stuck out her hand, quipping, "So you're not quite the villainous cliché everyone expected you to be. I was expecting someone taller."

Though Clarke was sure the Grounder Commander didn't know exactly what she had meant, Lexa had finally grabbed Raven's hand a moment later, the two shaking. "Raven. Clarke has told me of your expertise. I do not doubt your skills will impress."

Clarke hid her smile. Raven seemed to calm more with the flattery, and Clarke suspected Lexa knew what she was doing. You don't become a leader without playing the game, of course, and it was clear that Lexa had a way with people when she wasn't outright intimidating everyone. "Damn straight."

Lexa's eyebrows rose, and Clarke saw a small shred of humor shining through. Raven laughed, and Clarke had followed suit, happy that things seemed to be going well. It was almost enough to let her ignore the whispers lurking in the back of her mind. Almost.

And now, along with Kane, Raven, Octavia, Lincoln, and Bellamy, she was hiking alongside Lexa and her platoons toward the tunnel entrance that would lead them into Mt. Weather, where they could rescue their people and put a stop to the horrors taking place there.

Kane drew up next to Clarke as she put her canteen away. "Your mother would be proud, you know."

Clarke looked at him. She knew that he'd been on the Council with her mom, and that he'd often opposed her decisions, instead sticking closely to any and all rules, no matter the shades of grey. "I'm not so sure. She hasn't seemed so sure of my decisions since I've come down here." Clarke shrugged. "Maybe I've changed too much."

"Of course you have. You had to change to survive, to endure. Only the strongest survive here on Earth. That's how evolution works. We sent 100 children down to the ground; imagine our surprise when we arrived to find you were no longer the kids we'd known."

"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you sent us to what I'm sure you thought was our death," she said icily. She knew that Kane hadn't believed in their ability to survive on Earth.

He held his hands up, as if in surrender. "I've been wrong on a number of matters, Clarke. For any pain that may have caused you and the others, I'm sorry." He turned from her. "You should know I'm a changed man. Or, trying to change. To be better."

She suddenly felt bad for her words. She thought back to what she'd seen of his interactions with the Grounders. He did in fact seem different. This Kane was not a stickler for the rules; this Kane wanted peace, and wanted his people to have the best life possible. "Why the sudden attitude adjustment?"

"Someone very important to me… She died. My mother. I was never a very good son. I didn't believe in the mumbo-jumbo she was constantly preaching, and I never really listened to anything else she said either. And then on Unity Day, I lost her. And when the Ark was irreparably damaged, and so many were depending on me, I realized how many thing I'd done wrong, and the compassion I'd been missing in order to be a good leader." Kane took in a deep breath. "Maybe there's hope yet."

Clarke put a reassuring hand on his arm. "There's always hope. We're on Earth now, and life is what we make it." Clarke looked ahead, where Bellamy was talking to others. She smiled to herself. "It may not be 'whatever the Hell we want,' but we can make our own futures, be who we want to be, with whoever we choose to be with."

* * *

><p>Up ahead, Bellamy shook his head as Raven, Octavia, and Indra swapped stories. These three were kind of scary together. It wasn't often that you got three strongly opinionated, very stubborn, and quite daring women together; it didn't help that the three of them were clearly fairly mischievous as well.<p>

"I once took down a pack of coyotes with only a slingshot," Indra boasted. "That deed won me many suitors that night." Bellamy didn't see the expression that accompanied this statement, but both Octavia and Raven burst out laughing.

"So did anyone get lucky?" Raven asked.

"Or unlucky, depending on how much pent-up adrenalin you had after that?" Octavia piped.

"I told them whoever could beat me in a slingshot competition would have a chance of such an honor should I deem him worthy. And would you guess it? They all fell short, and I do not just mean their shots."

The women cackled again, and next to him, Lincoln sighed. Bellamy looked at him questioningly. "I might need to rethink my choice in women," Lincoln said.

Bellamy's temper flared. "Careful, that's my sister you're talking about."

Lincoln glanced over. "I was, as Octavia has said, 'kidding.' I meant no real offense." Bellamy felt himself relax. "I would do anything for Octavia. I would go to the ends of the Earth for her."

"Right. Look, I'm sorry. When it comes to O, I tend to be a little… overprotective." Bellamy wiped a hand over his face. He would hazard to say the last few days had been even more draining than their first week here on Earth, if that were even possible.

"I have noticed that is not just with Octavia," Lincoln said.

"What do you mean?"

"It is also with your healer. With Clarke."

Bellamy squirmed uncomfortably. "We would have died without her. She's important to everyone."

"But that is not the only reason," Lincoln said knowingly, and Bellamy knew he couldn't hide it anymore.

And Bellamy didn't know if he'd been missing have Miller and his other friends around, or if it was because he felt so much closer to the Grounder, either because of Octavia or because of what they had been through together, but in a rare display of trust, he decided to open up to Lincoln. "You're right. It's not."

If Lincoln was surprised by this, he didn't show it. "You love her."

"I'm not sure I can love anyone. I'm messed up," Bellamy said. "She's probably better of without me." But that sounded like a lie even to his own ears. He'd been grappling with these feelings for a while, starting with intense hatred when she'd stood up to him at the beginning, to awe when she'd killed Atom with compassion. When they'd gone on the day trip and had found the guns, he'd trusted her, and throughout it all, his feelings had evolved into something he had never quite felt before. And if this wasn't love, then he wasn't sure what was.

"You shouldn't decide that until you know how she feels in return."

"She's hung up on some other guy," Bellamy said lowly, remembering what she'd said in the car, and how he knew Finn had broken her heart.

Lincoln merely looked at Bellamy for a moment before answering. "If you really think that, you are not as intelligent as I had first thought, Bellamy Blake." And he walked ahead, leaving Bellamy to his own thoughts.

* * *

><p>Just before nightfall, the group neared the hidden entrance that Bellamy and Octavia had found when they'd first encountered Lincoln. They would go through the old garage to enter the tunnels, where Lincoln would lead them into the mountain. From there, the plan was to disable and capture as many Reapers as possible, and to use Raven's explosives to enter the Harvest Sanctuary where Clarke had found Anya.<p>

Lexa addressed her unit leaders to the side, and Clarke stood next to Raven and Kane as they waited. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Bellamy. "Got a second, Princess?"

She sighed playfully, excusing herself from the others as she followed him off to the side. They still hadn't discussed the kiss, and she felt somewhat nervous and shy around him. She was determined, though, not to let that show, and she tried to pretend that his proximity didn't affect her. "What did you need, Bellamy?"

He stepped closer to her, and she told herself not to step back. She would not be affected by Bellamy Blake. But when one of his hands reached out, laid lightly on her waist, she couldn't help the beating of her heart as it picked up.

Bellamy had no idea what he was doing. Maybe it was the conversation with Lincoln, or the fact that they were going into a seriously dangerous situation, but he was feeling reckless, and stupid. Heck, he was just feeling like Bellamy. And when she asked him that, what he needed, he wanted to say, _you_, and show her exactly what he was feeling. But instead, he looped one hand around her curvy waist and drew her a little bit closer.

"Clarke," he said, voice gruff. Eyes on her lips, he lowered his forehead to hers.

"Why did you kiss me earlier?" Clarke whispered against his lips. They were so close.

"Because… Because I wanted to, and I didn't know what was going to happen. Just like I don't know what will happen now. And if anything, Clarke, I… I just want you to know…" He squeezed his eyes shut. He should tell her how fiercely he cared about her, how he maybe even loved her.

But in typical Clarke fashion, she didn't want to see him in pain, and she could tell that his indecision was hurting him. So she looked into his eyes and pressed forward, closing the distance herself, leaving whatever he had to say hanging between them for another moment.

* * *

><p>AN: Guys, still two more weeks until The 100 comes back on the air... I can't handle it! Luckily this fanfiction community is super helping me with my withdrawal, so thanks my lovely friends ;) Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and remember that reviews = inspiration. Thanks for reading, and have a great day! xoxo, TATF


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I can't wait to watch them in just a little over a week!

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><p><span>Chapter 19<span>

The last kiss had been so fleeting, but this one seemed to go on forever. It was tender, as if Bellamy wanted to pour all of his feelings into it, just so she could know what he felt. He hadn't been able to tell her. And he still wanted to, but now that he and Clarke had engaged in this activity, he never wanted to pull away.

She let out a small sound, which he could only describe as a moan, and his grip on her waist became vice-like. In his head, he vowed to never let her go, this strong woman who had somehow wormed her way into his heart. He didn't know what they would face below the mountain, and he didn't know what would happen when she was reunited with Finn, but he didn't care. For now, this was enough, and he just wanted Clarke to be happy.

And if only he could have read her mind, because she was certainly happy at the moment. Even in the face of the oncoming danger, her heart soared as Bellamy kissed her breathless. She knew there should be no doubt that he felt the same way about her, but her mind was never one to let her off that easily. Even as the fears and uncertainties cropped up – Bellamy was a womanizer, she could not be distracted from her leadership duties, they were polar opposites – she pushed them down, letting herself for just this one moment give in to her baser desires; just a girl kissing the boy she may have fallen in love with.

Sudden jeers and hoots caused them to break apart, and Clarke gasped for breath, realizing how consumed she'd been in the kiss. She glanced over and saw Octavia and Raven cheering at them, and behind them Lexa seemed to be observing the scene with quiet reserve.

"Dammit," Bellamy muttered. He was going to _kill_ Octavia and Raven. He looked down at Clarke.

She met his eyes, and he couldn't believe how he'd gone so many weeks without noticing how blue they were, and how bright. Even with her face so dirty, she was so beautiful. She was the best of them. "Looks like everyone's ready," Clarke said. "But don't think this discussion is over."

Bellamy nodded. "I've always got more to say when it comes to you, Princess." He gave her a wink and began walking off, and she shook her head at his antics. But deep down, she knew that he did want to have that discussion. Just, maybe not when they were off walking into a potentially deadly situation…

When Clarke reached the rest of the group, everyone looked to her, and Kane leaned in to address her quietly. "Clarke, the Grounders' tradition is for the Commander to say something to her troops. Lexa is waiting to hear what you have to say."

Clarke had suspected this, realizing that this must be the moment when the leader makes the creative speech. "Not you?"

He cleared his throat and looked away. "The Grounders have made it clear who they believe to be our Commander. And it's not me."

"Right."

She stepped forward and took a deep breath. She could do this. _Here we go_.

She raised her voice. "We came down here after 97 years in space, only to find that the Earth was livable, and in fact already inhabited by others who had survived." She looked around, clocking the many Grounders that were gathering as well. "And we're really not so different, them and us. We're all survivors. We're the inheritors of the Earth after years of war, and a century of neglect. And we're all loyal, and strong."

Nearly everyone was listening now, and Clarke felt her voice rising. "We will stop the Mountain Men. They will no longer take our friends and family, we'll make sure of that. We will save our people, and then we will start a new world together, one of peace and amity. But for now, _this is War_!"

Raven and Octavia howled, and Indra took up the cry. Pretty soon, hoots and cheers were sent up by all, and Clarke met Lexa's gaze, seeing mutual respect there. Lexa gave her a nod, and Clarke nodded back. She felt a large hand slip into hers, and looked beside her to see Bellamy had found his way toward her. He gave her hand a quick squeeze, and she smiled.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready." It was time to enter the tunnels.

* * *

><p>A new girl had been brought in, and nobody knew who she was. Someone had vaguely recognized her from the Ark, but that had been deemed impossible. So where had she come from?<p>

But Monty had seen the pictures on President Wallace's computer. He knew that some of the Ark members had survived, but only a few of them had been privy to that knowledge. The mission had included him, Jasper, Miller, and Harper, and now Harper was missing. She'd been gone since the night before. She hadn't come to breakfast this morning, and no one could find her anywhere. Monty ran a hand over his face. They were behind enemy lines here, and without Clarke to lead them, he didn't know if they'd be able to escape.

The new girl stirred. She'd been asleep since they'd brought her in, and Monty had a few questions for her. Why was she here? Was she a spy? Were the Mountain Men checking up on them? Jasper had convinced many to give blood, which had bought them some trust and time, but Monty wouldn't put it past them to try something crazy. Especially that doctor. When she'd been setting up the blood transfusion for Maya and Jasper, Monty had seen a look in her eye – not sympathy, not concern, but greed – and he knew an enemy when he saw one.

The girl sat up. She was quite pretty, and confusion marred her features. He waited on the bunk next to her, quiet and observing, until she turned to him. "Where am I?" she asked, afraid.

"You're in Mt. Weather. What's your name?" Monty began.

"Mel," she said.

"I'm Monty." He stuck his hand out for her to shake, and after a slight hesitation, she grabbed it.

"You're from the Ark."

"How do you know that?"

"Clarke talked about you. She was very adamant about getting back to you, and some guy named Jasper, and the others." Mel took a look around.

Monty leaned forward. "You've seen Clarke?"

An ugly look passed over her face, surprising Monty. Sure, Clarke could be a bit of a hardass from time-to-time, but overall she was generally beloved. With her tough love, she was much like a mom for many of the 100. This girl seemed resentful and angry just thinking about the blond leader, though.

"I was getting away from her when I was brought here," Mel said lowly. "Her and that playboy Blake."

"Bellamy's alive?" Monty said, now eager. He knew he needed to be delicate with this, but he was just so ecstatic. Bellamy was alive, and Clarke had escaped. They were together; they were surely planning a rescue!

"Those two deserve each other. So self-righteous, so sanctimonious. So smug."

Clarke? Smug? He wondered if this girl was actually talking about the right Clarke. "Are they coming here? Are they trying to find us?"

"That's all Clarke's talked about. Peace with those savages, trying to get you guys out. But it doesn't seem so bad here. Better than out there, at least."

"And everyone from the Ark made it down safely?"

Tears sprung up in Mel's eyes, and as soon as she started sobbing, Monty felt his heart prick with sympathy. He moved to her bunk and put a consoling hand on her shoulder, and she grabbed him up in a hug. "Not… everyone," she hiccupped. "I was… the only one… from Factory Station."

Despite the obvious dislike that she bore toward his leaders, his friends, he felt bad for her. "It'll be okay," he told her, even when he did not know whether he could believe that himself.

They were suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Japser, looking quite urgent. "Monty, you're never gonna believe this, but…" he trailed off, seeing Mel quite literally gripping Monty for dear life. "Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt –"

"You're not!" Monty said, gently extricating himself from Mel. He turned to her. "Mel, everything will be okay. You're safe for now, and we'll look out for you."

"You will?" she sniffed, and Monty inwardly cringed at the look in her eye. He wasn't sure about this girl, but she seemed to be a Stage One clinger.

"Yes," he said. "Promise. Now I need to go with Jasper, but find something to eat, and rest a little more. We'll talk later."

She wiped her eyes and smiled at him, not once taking her gaze off of him until he left the room.

Outside the room, Jasper and Monty walked quickly. "What was that?" Jasper asked.

Monty shook his head. "I'm not totally sure. That girl, though, she came down from the Ark. And she's seen Clarke and Bellamy!"

He noticed that Jasper didn't seem so shocked to see that their two friends were alive. "You're not surprised?"

"I've heard."

"What?" How could he have heard that?

Jasper opened another door, letting them into a room where many of the remaining 47 had gathered. Only now, there seemed to be a few extra bodies. Including Finn Collins.

* * *

><p>AN: The 100 got the pick-up for Season 3! I AM SO THRILLED! I think this means they'll do Bellarke right, and make it a good slow burn and maybe give us something good in Season 3... I mean, who can say, but we can hope, right?! Anyway, we're starting to get into the mountain rescue sequence, so things are going to be really plot-based coming up, but promise I'll get some good feels for you in there too. Remember, reviews = inspiration, and I love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading! xoxo, TATF


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but they come back in ONE WEEK

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><p><span>Chapter 20<span>

"Finn!" Monty rushed up, and Finn stood to give him a hug.

"Monty! It's been forever," Finn said. "Good to see you, man."

Monty nodded. He had been the first one abducted by Mt. Weather, back when they had been searching for Clarke and Finn after everyone had finally figured out they weren't at Lover's Lane.

"We didn't know if you were alive," Finn continued.

"I thought you'd been incinerated!" Jasper stated, and everyone slapped Finn on the back, glad that he and Bellamy had somehow managed to scramble away in time.

Monty looked around and noticed that there were others who had arrived as well. Monroe was here, as well as a few younger guardsmen from the Ark. But it looked like no one was over the age of 25.

"So everyone made it down from the Ark?" someone asked, and Finn shook his head.

"Not everyone, but a lot of our people are gathered together in a camp."

"Is my father alive?" Miller asked, leaning forward.

Finn nodded. "And he wants to find you, Miller."

Miller seemed relieved, although Monty remembered him telling their small unit yesterday how his father had been disappointed in him—head of the guardsmen having a thief for a son? It certainly wasn't all peaches 'n cream in that family. Monty put a hand on his friend's shoulder, and Miller shot him a grateful look.

"How did you get captured?" Jasper asked, cutting through the many other voices asking after loved ones.

Finn opened his mouth, but Monty remembered how Maya had told Jasper and him that someone was listening to them, overseeing all that was going on. He interrupted before Finn could give anything away. "Finn is probably tired. Maybe we should let him rest and ask questions later."

The group looked ready to argue, but Jasper and Miller seemed to grasp what Monty was getting at, and they began to break up the group. "We'll all meet up later to discuss more," Miller said, appeasing the younger group members.

"I think they might be serving more chocolate cake in the cantina!" Jasper shouted, and people smiled, shaking their heads at his antics.

When it was finally just them – Miller, Jasper, Monty, Monroe, and Finn – Monty urged Finn to continue, only in quiet whispers and with smiles on their faces. "Raven figured out a way to tap into Mt. Weather's radio frequency, and we thought that we had an ear in the enemy's camp. They mentioned that there was some kind of problem with the Reapers, and all forces were to go to one secluded area to fight them off."

"We thought one of the upper entrances would be vacated," Monroe said. "We brought most of the guardsmen along with the current and past Chancellor to break everyone out."

Monty and Jasper shared a look. "Jaha and who else?"

"Clarke's mom," Finn said.

"Figures," Miller said.

"Clarke had to get it from somewhere," Jasper said, smirking.

"So where are they now?" Monty asked.

Finn and Monroe looked at each other, and she shrugged. "We don't know where they are. As soon as we neared the entrance, the same smoke that knocked everyone out at the dropship was suddenly everywhere. And then we just woke up and we were here."

"We don't know what happened to them. Everyone was trying to fight the Mountain Men off, and Murphy and I had been covering the rear. We covered our mouths and noses, but it was the type of thing that gets to your head pretty quickly, ya know? Last thing I saw was Murphy fighting off two soldiers and scrambling towards the woods," Finn stated quietly.

"Where were Clarke and Bellamy?" Monty asked.

A look twisted over Finn's features – a strange, dark look – and his voice grew low and menacing. "They'd run off."

"What?" Miller asked. Bellamy was his idol, and everyone knew it. "Bellamy would _never_ 'run off.'"

Monroe eyed Finn, and Monty clocked it. Something was up there, and Monty was determined to find out. But that could wait, for now. "We don't know where they are," Monroe said. "The group got back from the radio tower expedition and Clarke just disappeared that night. The Blake siblings had been missing since the expedition too, supposedly finding a way into Mt. Weather."

"Octavia's safe, then?" Jasper asked, and Monty smiled a bit. Jasper would always have a soft spot for the younger Blake.

Monroe nodded. "Yeah, she joined with us when we were out looking for you guys. She and Bellamy had to help me come back to camp, because I'd been shot in the leg by some Grounders."

Miller, Monty, and Jasper listened, riveted. "So the Grounders are still a big problem, even with our people here?" Miller asked.

Monroe shot another look at Finn, who seemed to fold into himself, a haunted look in his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it," he said quietly.

"What is it? You can tell us," Jasper said soothingly. But it was the wrong thing to say.

"Nothing. Just forget about it!" Finn looked pissed, and Jasper drew back in surprise.

Monty realized they should get away from this subject, and fast. "We'll talk about the Grounders later. For now, let's think about how we're going to get out of here, and where the other Ark guards may be."

The group nodded, and Finn seemed to simmer down a little, but Monty made a mental note that something had changed in his friend, and not for the better.

* * *

><p>Everything hurt. Abby groaned, and her head throbbed. She opened her eyes, and the fluorescent lighting made her squint. <em>What's going on? <em>she wondered.

Her shoulder was aching, and she realized she was in a cage as she began to come to. Sergeant Miller was unconscious next to her, and she shook him. "Miller, wake up." He stirred, but didn't wake up.

Abby looked around again. There were cages on either side and above her, and they contained many people that she didn't recognize. _Grounders_, she thought, remembering how Clarke had escaped with another woman from one of the neighboring tribes. Some of their people were here too, but it looked like everyone below the age of 25 were missing, including Jackson, Finn Collins, and more.

The most horrifying sight of all, though, were two men and one woman suspended from the ceiling, upside down, with tubes connected to them that led into the wall. _Blood transfusion?_ Whatever it was, Abby didn't like it, and she knew they needed to get out of here, and fast.

"Sergeant, wake _up_." She nudged him rather hard, and he jolted up, confused.

"Chancellor? Where… are we?"

A woman in a white coat entered the room with a clipboard. Her eyes swept over the room, and they met Abby's before moving toward the people suspended from the ceiling.

"I don't know, Miller. But we need to escape, and soon."

* * *

><p>The garage was dark and quiet, permeated only by the soft sounds of rodents skittering swiftly to and fro. Frankly, it gave Clarke the creeps, though she'd never admit it. She was equipped with a club, having chosen the weapon over the guns that Camp Jaha offered. Most of her people had stuck with guns, and Raven had most of the explosives for when they finally reached the entrances to Mt. Weather. Having Bellamy close to her, though, gave her confidence and strength. She knew he would always protect her.<p>

"We found Lincoln over here," Octavia said as they approached several automobiles that must have been parked here before the war. Clarke looked at them, and thought about that damn car in the woods.

Lincoln led them further along through the dark. "The tunnels split into several directions from here. I can lead us to the lab where their sick experiments take place."

Lexa nodded. "We will destroy this lab, and they will never hold us captive again."

Indra bared her teeth. "And then we will slit their throats for their crimes."

Clarke shared a look with Raven, who stood on her other side. Indra could be a bit bloodthirsty.

As they continued forward, Bellamy leaned in close to her, speaking in low tones that only Clarke could hear. "It's all gonna work out, Princess."

"I know that. Did I give the impression that I'm worried?"

"I've never seen you this jumpy, not even when the Grounders were ready to flay you alive."

"I don't love the dark, or rodents," Clarke said.

"See, that's what I like about you."

"That rats scare me?"

"That even admitting weaknesses can sound so badass coming from you," he whispered, and she shivered.

A sudden movement to the left startled her, and she shone her light in that direction just as two Reapers leapt out at them. Her instinct was to lash out, but she remembered that the Grounders didn't want any Reapers hurt. Indra called out a word in Grounder language, and Lexa suddenly used the device, emitting a high-pitched tone.

The two Reapers collapsed, motionless, as other Grounders rushed in, ready to bind them and bring them back. Clarke's heart pounded, and she shone her light past the Reapers to the body that they had been hovering over. She crept forward, Bellamy behind her. "What is it?" he asked.

"I can't tell."

She moved forward. It was a girl in what looked to be a hospital gown, blood crusted over a wound in her hip that had bled through the cloth. Clarke felt a pit drop into her stomach as she neared the girl, knowing that the Reapers took the bodies that the Mountain Men had finished with and disposed of. She flipped her over, and immediately began gagging.

"Bellamy, it's…" She couldn't finish, as she retched once again.

He swallowed and then met her eyes. "Harper."

* * *

><p>AN: I was sort of shipping Harper/Jasper for a brief shining second two episodes ago when they were breaking into President Wallace's office; was anyone else feeling that? Anyway, stuff is about to go DOWN here, so prepare yourself for a lot of action. In other news, ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL THE SHOW AIRS AGAIN! We've almost survived the break, people. Remember, reviews = inspiration, and I love to hear your thoughts/feels. Thanks for reading and reviewing! xoxo, TATF


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I can't wait to see them on my TV screen in JUST TWO DAYS!

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><p><span>Chapter 21<span>

Abby looked around at her surroundings. The woman in the lab coat had walked through the room, checking over the Grounders hanging from the ceiling, before someone had called to her, something about _another patient being prepped, Cage being ready_. She'd left her clipboard on a table near the exit to the room, so Abby had to assume that she was coming back at some point in the near future to get it. Meaning, she had to work fast.

She noticed Jaha in a cage across from her. "Thelonius," she whispered. He stirred, but didn't awaken yet. Next to her, Sergeant Miller had roused the few guardsmen and guardswomen within his reach. They needed to find some way to get out of here, but the Mountain Men had taken all weapons from them, along with any tools they'd had in their pockets. The only thing left was their clothing…

Their clothing. Abby suddenly remembered her Chancellor pin, and she hastily felt along her jacket until her hands touched the pointed surface. She exhaled heavily. In their hurry, the Mountain Men had missed the pin. She took it off and looked at it before her attention shifted to the lock at the front of the cage. She began feeling around the lock, wondering if she could pick it. _If only Jake were here_, she thought. She inserted the clip into the lock, maneuvering it around in hopes of breaking them out of their confines. She looked across the way to see Jaha stirring again.

"_Thelonius_," she hissed, and Jaha groaned.

"What happened?" he asked, groggy.

"You need to listen now. We were tricked. We've been captured, and we need to get out of here."

"The Harvest Sanctuary?" Jaha asked, finally looking around.

"Yes. This is exactly what Clarke warned us about, which means the kids are in here somewhere."

"If they're still alive," Jaha drawled.

Sergeant Miller was suddenly pressed up close to the bars, furious at the once-Chancellor. "They _are_ alive, Jaha. Don't get any ideas. We aren't leaving without them."

Abby put a calming hand on the Sergeant's arm, looking him in the eyes. "We'll find them. Your son is here, and we'll get him out." She knew what it was like to wonder if you'd lost your only child. She swallowed hard, remembering that she didn't even know where Clarke was. She continued to pick at the lock, choosing to believe that her daughter was somewhere far away, and that she was safe. And most of all, Abby hoped Clarke wasn't doing anything reckless.

* * *

><p>"Don't get reckless, Clarke," Bellamy said, pulling the blonde back a bit as she crept ahead. She knew he was just trying to look out for her, but she was on edge after having found Harper's body, a look of horror still etched on her pretty features.<p>

"You know, you don't have to look out for me. I'm not just some fragile girl who can't defend herself."

Once he might have gotten angry at this comment, but instead he chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "I know that you're perfectly capable, Princess. We discussed it just yesterday, but sometimes my body acts before my brain, and it's just instinct to protect you."

She smiled. She had told him to trust his instincts, after all. "I can't believe that was only 36 hours ago."

"A lot can change in a few days, down here on Earth."

Thinking about it, a lot had changed. Just a few days ago, she'd been trapped in a bunker with Finn, waiting out the acid fog, and he'd pretty much professed his love for her again then and there. Since then, she'd almost died a few times, they'd managed to make a delicate pact with the Grounders, and they were now trekking through a mountain to save her mother and the others before it was too late.

And Bellamy… He'd suddenly become something so much more to her. She knew feelings couldn't just suddenly appear, and realized that they'd been there along, buried beneath the surface, beneath the weight of her responsibility and guilt. Since the first moment she'd fought with him, there'd been a spark, and she'd taken it for hatred, or at least extreme dislike. But now she wasn't quite so sure. Was it possible that she'd loved him all along, and hadn't even known it herself? All she knew is that he'd somehow been discrete in climbing up the ladder to her heart, and now she didn't even know how she could have ever ignored that. And when this was all over… She'd tell him.

A call from their left interrupted the easy silence that had spread between them, and they immediately crouched. From behind them, Octavia shined her light forward, and small pinpoints appeared in the dark. They grew closer, and fast, and Clarke realized they were eyes. "Reapers!" she shouted.

The monsters were on them suddenly, and Clarke was swinging out with her club before she even realized what was happening. Lexa turned on the device, and the high-pitched tone felled most of the Reapers around her. A sudden _shot_ rang out, and a nearby Grounder collapsed.

"Nova!" Nyko shouted, hurrying over to her. Clarke rushed over as well, trying to help Nyko stem the bleeding. The girl had been shot in the thigh, though, and she was bleeding out, fast.

"Her femoral artery…" Clarke trailed off. The girl wasn't going to make it. More shots rang out, and Clarke looked up.

"Mountain Men!" Octavia shouted. Grounders rushed forward, including Lexa, to meet the oncoming threat. Clarke looked back to Nova, but the light had faded from her eyes. She turned to Nyko. He shook his head, but there was no time to dwell.

Clarke stood up, jogging a ways toward the fighting. Out of seemingly nowhere a soldier grabbed her from behind. "Remember," he called out, "Take the space survivors alive!"

Clarke stomped on his instep, and he cursed, letting her go. As soon as he recovered, he glared up at her, and she drew her club back to gather moment. "You!" he began, clearly recognizing her from her short story just under a week ago; but he didn't have time to finish as she swung the club round and it connected with his skull. He dropped like a load of rocks.

Up ahead, Lexa speared a soldier, the blade's tip going through him and into another enemy. He fell to his knees, only having the strength to draw his gun for one last shot. Lexa felt herself being pushed to the side as a shot rang out. Bellamy was on top of her. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Thank you, Bellamy kom Shaikru."

It was then Lexa realized that the device emitting the high pitch had gone silent. She looked down at the device, finding it smashed beyond repair. Around them, Reapers began to stir, recovering now that the noise had shut off.

"Great," Bellamy remarked, and he huffed as he yanked Lexa up.

The Reaper next to Clarke began to twitch, and she realized that there was nothing to stop them now. She looked for Lexa, to see what the problem was, and saw Bellamy helping her up.

"Clarke!" She turned around to see Raven reaching into her pack, drawing out some homemade explosives, and she hurried over. Raven handed her a small, round object. "Home-made grenades. Careful where you throw it."

Clarke nodded, and the two of them crept through the rows of fighting as best they could before tossing the grenades into the huddle of oncoming Mountain Men. Explosions wracked the tunnels, and parts of the wall began to break off as they shook. Clarke readied to throw another grenade when a bullet grazed her shoulder. Her body spun around at the impact, and she felt pain tear through her shoulder.

And then a soldier was grabbing her, yanking her wrists together in front of her. She twisted, but she couldn't get a hold of her club, and her shoulder felt like it was on fire. She used all of her strength to push her wrists up, knocking the soldier's head back and his mask slightly askew. He was suddenly tearing at his throat, releasing Clarke, and she punched him. The blow forced his mask even further off, and Clarke could see the skin around his mouth blister.

"Help… me…" he gasped, and Clarke stepped back in horror as the radiation overtook him. _The radiation_. She wanted to face palm as the realization that this could be key to fighting their enemy finally hit home.

"Take off their masks!" Clarke yelled, as loudly as she could. Nearby, Indra grinned savagely as she ripped a mask from the head of an oncoming Mountain Man, and frankly, Clarke was a little creeped out, but she pressed forward toward Raven nonetheless.

Clarke rushed to the left to find Raven, who was rooting through her pack for more weapons. "We have to get to the doors."

"Well, yeah, that's the goal." Raven looked at Clarke like she'd grown another head.

"_No_, I mean that if we can make it there, then everyone in Mt. Weather will be forced to retreat to the lower levels to stop the radiation poisoning," Clarke said, words coming out in a rush.

Raven nodded. She turned Clarke forcefully around and began stuffing something into her pack. "What are you doing?!"

"I have all of the explosives with me, but we need to split it, take both sides to try and get to the door. Whoever gets there first blows it clean off."

Right. That made sense. Raven spun her back around so they were facing one another. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

They took off in different directions, and Clarke could see Raven on the outskirts of the battle. A hand grabbed her ankle, and she toppled, shouting in pain as her shoulder hit the ground _hard_. A Reaper pulled her toward him, teeth bared, and she kicked him in the face. His head whipped around, but a mere second later he was pulling her again, teeth bared and mouth bloody. A rock suddenly hit him in the head, and he crumpled. Clarke looked up to see Indra holding a slingshot.

"Told you I was a good shot," she boasted as Clarke scrambled up. Behind Indra, Octavia stood, face bloodied from a cut on her forehead, but otherwise unharmed.

"We have to get to the doors," Clarke told them.

Octavia nodded. "You take care of the doors, and I'll take care of the Reapers."

Octavia sprinted over to where Lincoln had knocked the mask off of a Mt. Weather soldier. She bent down to root through the woman's pockets. "C'mon, please be here."

Whatever she was looking for wasn't there, and she gave a small shout of frustration. She startled as a knife was suddenly thrown just above her head, and she looked up in shock to see Lincoln had thrown her. She slowly turned around as the soldier fell, realizing that he'd just saved her life, _again_. But she couldn't dwell on it, and she searched through the soldier's pocket, her hands touching a small device that matched the one Lexa had once held. Her hand jammed on the button, and the Reapers around them folded as the pitch once again worked its magic.

Up ahead, Clarke could no longer see Raven running, but she did see a large, locked metal door. _That's it_, she thought, pushing herself harder. A bullet blew past her, and she looked up. A soldier was guarding the door. He aimed his gun at her again, and she gasped as a shot fired off.

But she never felt the bite of a bullet. The soldier collapsed, hit by the bullet from an assault rifle that hadn't belonged to him. She turned her head and almost laughed from sheer relief. "Bellamy!"

"Didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, now did you, Princess?" At that, she did laugh.

"I already told you, this story's no good for heroes," she gasped breathlessly as they closed in on the door. She swung her pack around and dug through it for the explosives. Her fingers found them, and she began to plant them on the door.

"Guess it's good I'm the antihero then, isn't it?" he said, his back to her as he defended her from oncoming soldiers.

Lexa reached them, flanked by two other Grounders and bloodied from the battle. "We are ready to enter?"

"We're in business," Clarke breathed. Lexa gave her a blank look, which made Clarke smile. "Know what? I'll explain it later. For now, just stand back."

The group backed up, and Clarke turned to Bellamy. "Bellamy, if you wouldn't mind shooting the ignition fuse?"

He righted his gun and looked through the scope, aiming carefully. "As you wish, Princess."

And then the world exploded.

* * *

><p>AN: WOOF, guys... That was a lot of action writing. My fave type of writing is definitely the Bellarke moments, so it takes a little longer to get through the action, but we gotta have it for the plot, amiright?! Anyway, we're almost at 300 reviews, which personally for me is really exciting because I have written fanfiction before, but only for friends, and I've never posted, so your responses are making me want to write more and more stories for this wondrous fandom. So anyway, thanks for reading, hope to hear from you via a review, and everyone get psyched we only have to wait two more days for a new episode! AHH! xoxo, TATF


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I can't wait to be watching them in the midseason premiere in just a few hours!

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><p><span>Chapter 22<span>

The lights were out, and the doors were locked. Everyone was supposed to be asleep, but then, they had never really been very good at following the rules, now had they? Monty shook his head thinking about it as he picked the lock that led into the main hallway from the dormitory where the 47 and recent Ark citizens had been kept.

Behind him, Jasper crept up. "How much longer?"

"Working on it," Monty whispered back, concentrating hard. He, Miller, Jasper, Monroe, and Finn had decided that they needed to get to the so-called Harvest Sanctuary, and fast. If the adults from the Ark were somewhere around here, Monty had no difficulty in believing that they'd be next after the Grounders when it came to forced blood donations.

"Do you think we'll find Harper?" Jasper asked. Monty paused in his efforts and looked at his friend. Jasper clearly felt guilty about Harper's disappearance. They'd look everywhere they'd been allowed, and they'd even enlisted Maya to help out, but so far there were no answers.

"I'm sure we will, Jasper." Then, "It's not your fault."

Jasper visibly swallowed, shooting his best friend a grateful look, but Monty had already turned his attention back to the lock. "And, voila," he said as the lock clicked open.

Jasper waved, and suddenly the rest of their unit had appeared by their side. "Ready?" Finn asked. Everyone nodded.

Miller led the way as they snuck through the vacant hallways. "It's kinda creepy out here after hours," Jasper whispered.

"_Everything_ about this place is creepy," Monroe said, taking in the surroundings.

"Not the chocolate cake," Jasper muttered, and Monty shook his head.

"Wait," Finn said, and the group stopped. Finn crept forward slowly, passing Miller at the front. He leaned around a pillar, and suddenly grabbed a figure standing there. Whoever it was let out a small squeal, but Finn's hand was over her mouth. "Don't move if you value your life," Finn whispered menacingly, shocking the rest of the group.

Jasper leapt forward, pushing Finn away from the figure, and Monty recognized her as Maya. "Let her go! Jesus, Finn."

Maya shrank away from Finn towards Jasper; he'd clearly scared her. "She's one of them!" Finn said.

"We know her," Monty explained, while Jasper tended to Maya.

"Maya, what is it?"

"It's your friend, the girl."

"Harper?"

"Yes, I… I found out something _horrible_." Maya looked like she wanted to cry. Everyone wanted her to continue, but sudden footsteps from down the hallway stopped them.

"We have to hide," Miller said.

Monty looked around, noticing a large vent crate in the wall. "Here!" He quickly picked the lock, and shooed them in, starting with Monroe first. Once they were in, he scrambled inside, leaning the vent cover back against the wall.

Two people had arrived. They stopped when they heard a sound, and Monty cringed before turning to glare at Miller, who's foot had slipped and hit the vent wall a little too hard. "Sorry," he mouthed.

"What was that?" the man asked. Monty didn't recognize him, but he did recognize the woman in the white lab coat. Dr. Tsing had been the one to convince Jasper to go through with the blood transfusion for Maya. There had been something sinister about her, something threatening underneath the underlying concern for Maya's safety, and Monty wouldn't trust her as far as he could throw her.

"Don't be so paranoid, Cage. Everything is working out perfectly. How do you feel, anyway?"

He smirked. "Like a brand new human being. That girl's wails almost made me want to back off of this, but I'd say the ends surely justify the means. If only everyone could feel this way."

"They will soon. The new influx of subjects was a sign from the heavens. We can begin in the morning."

"And the kids?"

Tsing shrugged. "We'll save them for last. Maybe some of them will begin reproducing before we get to them."

"You're sick. It's almost impressive, how pitiless you can be sometimes." The man – Cage – didn't look at her in a disgusted manner, though, Monty noted; rather, it seemed like he was impressed and somewhat in awe of her.

She continued to walk, and he followed. "It's just science."

After Monty was sure they were gone, he moved the vent cover out of the way and climbed out. "Did you hear that? A new 'influx of subjects.'"

Miller nodded, but Jasper stepped forward. "But we gave them blood. A _lot_ of blood."

"That's what I wanted to tell you," Maya uttered. "About Harper."

"What about Harper?"

"They're not just interested in blood anymore. They've moved past that."

Monty had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "To what?"

"To bone marrow. I overheard Dr. Tsing telling one of the older medics that the bone marrow from you all could have us up on the surface in a month's time."

"Where's Harper?" Finn ground out, cutting through her explanation.

"She's… she's dead." Maya looked genuinely upset, and Jasper wanted to pull her into a hug, but he was horrified.

"No… Harper…" Monroe began.

Jasper grabbed Maya's shoulders, looking into her eyes. "They killed her?" Maya only nodded, tears streaming down her face. Jasper released her.

"This is my fault…"

Monty steadied his friend. "Jasper, keep it together. It wasn't your fault, but we have the chance to save the rest of our people and get out of here. Don't let this cripple you."

Before Jasper could respond, alarms suddenly began blaring, and a strange, yellow lighting filled the hallway. "What's going on?" Finn demanded, and Maya looked at him with wide eyes.

"There's been a breach. Citizens are supposed to get to the lower levels immediately."

"A breach?" Miller asked. "Then that means…"

Monty grinned. "I knew it. Clarke's coming for us."

* * *

><p>Ringing, everywhere. Clarke sat up, shaking her head. Her head pounded, her shoulder throbbed, and a metallic taste in her mouth told her that she'd bitten her tongue when the blast had thrown her back. She noticed an arm looped around her waist, and she looked to the side to see Bellamy had curled his body around hers, shielding her from most of the blast. The gesture now felt familiar; he'd saved her so many times in the last few days.<p>

He seemed to be thinking the same thing, and he looked up at her, scratches marring his pretty face. "We've got to stop meeting like this," he said, squeezing her waist.

She squeezed his bicep before pushing herself up. She noticed that Octavia and Lincoln had been far enough away from the blast that they were relatively fine, and Lexa and Indra seemed to be recovering several yards away. Other Grounders were beginning to arrive near the door, though many of them had been tasked with containing the fallen Reapers.

"Damn, Wick may have done _too_ good a job," Clarke heard from behind her, and she turned to see Raven standing there, looking at the wreckage that was once a door.

"You think?" Bellamy said, standing up and dusting himself off.

Raven shrugged. "Sorry, but it did the job, didn't it?"

"Yes, now let's go," Clarke said, pushing forward. She stumbled, still a bit dizzy from the fall.

"You okay, Clarke?" Bellamy said, sliding his hand around to her back. If Raven noticed, she didn't say anything, but Clarke looked around. They had to go, but her gut was pressing her, pushing her to follow her desires, and she suddenly brought a hand up behind Bellamy's head and pulled his lips down to hers.

If the last kiss had been tender, slow, then this one was intense and fast, building and building until Clarke felt like every ounce of her being was throwing itself at him, as if she could merge and become one with him. And Bellamy responded in kind. He kissed like he fought: hard, fast, and focused.

She let him go, gulping for breath. "I am now."

"God, you two are insane," Raven said, pushing past them. Bellamy grinned at Clarke, and she was sure she was grinning back, as they jogged over to the door.

"What are we waiting for?" Octavia asked, and she ducked through the door.

"O, be careful. Let Lincoln go first!" Bellamy called from just behind Clarke. Clarke jogged behind Indra, who followed Lincoln and Octavia. Alarms blared all around them.

A harsh grinding sound was all the warning they had before a door suddenly slammed down from the ceiling directly behind Clarke. It was so close that she could feel the _whoosh_ of it as the mechanism slid into place, and she cried out in surprise. Ahead of her, Indra, Lincoln, and Octavia paused. Clarke turned and saw that they'd been cut off from the rest of the group.

The door was transparent, and Bellamy immediately slammed the butt of his gun into it. It didn't budge. He backed up. "Step back," he shouted, and it sounded muffled, but Clarke and the others quickly retreated, pressing their backs to the walls.

He shot the door, but the bullets had no effect. "It's a mechanism to contain the radiation," Clarke shouted. "You'll have to find another way down. We'll keep going."

Bellamy wasn't having it. Not only was Clarke on the other side of this door, but Octavia as well. No way was he letting those two go on without him. "We'll just use the explosives!"

Raven shook her head. "The explosives would kill us all at this range, and would likely cause an eruption of flames to incinerate anything and everything in this hallway. After what we saw happened to the entryway, we need to conserve those explosives for the Harvest Sanctuary, and we need to detonate them from as far away as possible."

"We will find another way," Lexa stated, signaling to several Grounder guards.

"No! Dammit, we are _not_ leaving them!" Bellamy ground out, pounding his fist against the door.

Clarke put her hand out, splaying her fingers against where his fist rested. He noticed and spread his fingers wide as well; had the door not been there, they would have been touching, palm to palm. "Bellamy, we'll be fine. You have to go."

"I'm not leaving you and Octavia, Clarke."

"We'll be fine, Bel. If you don't trust Lincoln and Indra, at least trust Clarke and I," Octavia said, though Clarke could tell she was also clearly uneasy about the separation.

Lincoln and Bellamy exchanged a glance, and Clarke realized they were having some sort of silent conveyance of orders. After a moment, Lincoln nodded. "O, you stick to Lincoln, _no matter what_."

"I will. We'll be fine," Octavia soothed, and Bellamy smiled at her.

"I love you, little sister."

"And I love you, Bel."

Bellamy looked at Clarke. "I lost you once before, Princess, and you made your way back to us. I won't lose you again."

Clarke smiled at him, sadly. "You won't. I promise."

With that, Clarke drew her hand away, and she raced down the hall with Indra, Lincoln, and Octavia.

"Shall we?" Lexa said, and Bellamy turned to see the group waiting for him. He nodded, and turned back only once to see Clarke and Octavia disappearing around a corner, nearly lost from sight.

* * *

><p>AN: TONIGHT! Guys, I kind of can't believe we survived the whole winter hiatus. My obsession has reached a dangerous level with this show... Anyway, we're in the heart of the rescue sequence here, so the next few chapters will be pretty action-packed, but I know how it's going to end, and I think you'll be into it (at least, I hope so!). Thanks as always for reading, and especially to those of you who review - that means so much to me. Reviews = inspiration ;) Enjoy the episode tonight! xoxo, TATF


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I might be obsessed with them.

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><p><span>Chapter 23<span>

President Dante Wallace sat with his hands folded under his chin as he considered the possibilities. His son Cage was still going on and on about how they had to deploy more of his monstrous soldiers; the savages altered to become deadly and unfeeling killing machines. Though he didn't agree with the tactics, this was a cause that his son truly believed could help them, and so far, it had helped them captured many of the outside humans who had managed to evolve past the radiation poisoning, and therefore could help cure his own people through blood dialysis.

For once, Dr. Tsing seemed to agree with Cage. The two of them were both strongly opinionated, and could be heartless when it came to making decisions that could save the rest of their people in Mt. Weather.

Dante raised his hand, cutting Cage off. "If they're here for their people, then we must talk to them. We need not shed more blood, but perhaps some of them will come willingly, just like many of the 47 did when it came to donating their blood."

Cage shook his head. "Father, they will not be reasoned with. Reports already say they are passing the first entry point and are working their way down. Let us exterminate the savages, and we will capture the remaining space humans – "

"For what, Cage? I already told you, I will not taint this legacy by using those people – "

"President Wallace," Dr. Tsing interrupting. "I think Cage just means to protect any innocent casualties. If these people cannot be reasoned with, it will put a great many of our people in danger. Even their breaking through our safeguards threatens to kill anyone who has not made it to the lower levels by radiation alone. I request that we deploy Cage's soldiers, merely to stem the progress of the intruders downwards. We can then discuss what to do about the 47 and other captives once we ensure safety for our people."

Dante took a deep breath. Tsing made sense, but he knew her well by now, and he knew the greedy look in her eyes better than anyone. The last thing she wanted was to merely deter the intruders. If they could be stopped, then they could be captured; in short, they could be used.

He nodded to Cage. "Stop their progress, but I'm warning you, Cage. Do not take this too far. I want to have a parley with this people."

"Of course, Father. I won't disappoint you." Cage nodded to Dr. Tsing before taking off, leaving Dante alone with her.

"He's been experimenting more and more with those creatures. They will overcome the outsiders," Tsing said.

"I only hope that we can finish this before there is too much needless bloodshed."

Another set of alarms went off, and the door to his quarters automatically slammed down, sealing them in. Dante hoped that Cage had made it through to a safe place. His son could be dark at times, but he was his only child, and he loved him dearly.

Dr. Tsing walked closer to Dante's desk. A small part of him felt that she was imposing, but he shook it off. "They've breached yet another level. If they manage to open these doors, it's likely that the radiation is already flooding into this level and can reach us."

Dante nodded to a closet. "There are suits over there. We should put them on."

"And you really do not intend to let us harvest these strangers?"

"I do not."

"Even if it will save our people. We could be living on the _ground_. Outside in the world. We could create a better world."

"Even so. It is simply out of the question. Now, the suits."

Dante stood up, but he suddenly felt hands thrusting him to the side, and he fell over. He hit the ground hard, gasping at the impact. He was not a young man, and hard falls could be dangerous. His vision swam with dots, and he looked up to see Tsing poring over his computer, furiously typing.

"What are you – ," he began, but was unable to finish as the doors promptly slid open. Almost immediately he could feel the heat and then burning prick his arms, and suddenly he felt he was afire. Pain washed over him as the radiation flooded the room.

"I'm sorry, President, but that is unacceptable."

Dante knew he would not be able to overpower her now to shut the doors again, so he began to crawl towards the suit. His body was fire, though, and he felt it in his very veins as each movement seemed increasingly more impossible. He grimaced as a foot came down hard on one of his outstretched hands, and he collapsed. It was Tsing, only she seemed completely unaffected by the radiation. "How?" he managed to gasp out.

"The bone marrow. This is the future, you foolish old man. You are part of the past, a regime that will die under the ground. I will be the harbinger that brings our people into the future, the outside world. These outsiders will get us there."

His body was failing. He knew he would be dead soon. He only wished he could see Cage one more time. "Please…" he whispered, and the pain began to subside as he grew weaker. "You can… stop… this…"

"Even so," she mocked, mimicking his earlier words. "It is simply out of the question." With that, she left the room without a second glance. She didn't need to look back to know what she would find.

President Dante Wallace was dead.

* * *

><p>With Maya leading the way and Finn close behind her, Monty trailed with Jasper, Miller, and Monroe. Something was clearly going on, and Maya seemed to think that the breach was due to outside activity. "It seems unlikely to have come from the insider," she told them, "Since it was not immediately quelled."<p>

Monty had nodded, knowing that it must be Clarke who had come to save them. Anyone could say what they wanted to about her, but she had been there for them from the very beginning.

Miller seemed to be on the same page. "Bellamy's come to save us. He wouldn't leave his people down here."

Monty shook his head. True, Bellamy hadn't started out as the most understanding or compassionate leader, but he was charismatic and knew how to inspire loyalty in his people. And Monty knew him to be loyal in return.

A second set of alarms went off, and Maya paused. She turned to Jasper, fear in her eyes. "Another level has been breached. It's not safe for me here."

"We have to keep going," Finn said lowly.

Jasper pulled Maya closer. "You're in danger up here?"

She nodded. "Yes. I have to get lower."

"I'll take you to safety, and then I can meet back up with the group."

"No!" Finn grabbed Maya, breaking Jasper's hold on her. "You need to lead us to our people."

Jasper pushed Finn off. "She's not safe here! She has to get further underground. The radiation – "

A silent stare down seemed to occur next, when something flickered in Finn's eyes and he suddenly backed off, looking confused and scared. "You're right. I'm sorry," he nearly whispered.

Monty didn't have a clue what was going on with his friend, but he put a hand on Finn's shoulder. Finn shot him a grateful look, and Monty thought about the PTSD he must be suffering from. He thought all of his friends had been killed or captured, and that the Grounders had done it, only to find out that a third and even more deadly party was involved. Somewhere deep down, the Spacewalker was scared and lonely, and his mind had let him believe the worst of all possible situations. It was hard to recover from war, and Monty reminded himself that they were all still teenagers.

Maya's eyes suddenly went wide with revelation. "There's a lab nearby that will have decontamination suits, so if I can get to it, I should be able to withstand the radiation."

Monty nodded. It was time to take control. What would Clarke do? "Jasper, you get Maya to that lab and then meet up with us."

"I'll go with him," Miller stated.

Monty and Jasper both seemed confused by that, and Miller shrugged. "I was a thief on the Ark, and Bellamy's second here on the ground. Either way, seems like I can be of use in case this one gets into trouble," he said, cocking his head at Jasper.

Finn nodded. "And we'll continue on until we find the harvest chamber."

Monty looked to Jasper. Separated, again. "Be careful," he said to his friend.

Jasper grabbed him in a sudden bear hug. "You too."

As soon as they released, Jasper jogged off with Maya and Miller, leaving Monty, Finn, and Monroe behind. Monroe snickered. "Now that's what I call bromance."

Monty grinned at her. "Call it whatever you want, but let's get going. There's no time to lose."

* * *

><p>Indra led the way, followed by Lincoln and Octavia. Clarke brought up the rear, looking around for anything useful. Every time they passed through a new level, alarm systems would blare, and sometimes doors would slide down from the ceiling just behind them in an attempt to seal the radiation out.<p>

Clarke's shoulder throbbed. She had ripped off a small section of the bottom of her shirt to use as a tight tourniquet, and the bleeding had stopped, but the pain had gradually worsened. Each step made her grit her teeth, and she had begun to lag further behind.

Lincoln noticed. "Indra," he called out, and she looked back, baring her teeth.

"Quickly, Clarke of the Sky People. Your pace lags, and the Mountain monsters will surely know we are inside by now."

But Clarke wasn't paying attention. In their rush to get further into Mt. Weather, she hadn't properly taken in her surroundings. Now, she began to notice where she was, and she wracked her brain to remember the map that President Wallace had once given her. "I've seen this place before," she whispered.

It had been during her first escape attempt, when Jasper and Maya had stopped her. She looked at the corridors, and she suddenly began running in the opposite direction, desperately hoping that a wall would not be blocking their way.

Indra cursed, and Octavia began to run after Clarke. "Clarke!"

"This way," the blonde called. "There's an entrance to one of the labs around here somewhere."

She stopped in front of a door. This was it. She remembered that this opened into part of the medical bay, but an unused room that she had only noticed during her ferocious sprint to escape. Lincoln, Indra, and Octavia were behind her by now, and she used all her strength to push the door open.

She stepped inside slowly, seeing the back of a Mt. Weather soldier wearing a suit. She slowly crept around, ready to take the mask off, when a body suddenly slammed into her.

She tumbled to the ground, grunting in pain when her shoulder came into contact with the floor yet again. Lincoln was on whoever it was that had thrown her to the side. "Stop!" Octavia screamed.

Lincoln released his hold on whoever it was, and Clarke pushed herself up. It was Jasper!

"Clarke! Octavia!" he yelled, and he was pushing Lincoln aside to gather Octavia into a sudden hug.

She laughed. "What are you doing here?!"

A hand landed on Clarke's good shoulder, and she looked up to see Miller reaching down. She grabbed his hand and he hauled her up. "Good to see you, Clarke."

She smiled. "You too, Miller."

"We had to find a suit for Maya. Not that we aren't grateful for the rescue, but let's just say that radiation and Mt. Weather citizens don't get along too well," Jasper joked, hanging an arm around the figure in the suit.

Clarke realized it was Maya, who was nervously staring at Octavia, Lincoln, and Indra. "Hi," she said, demure.

Octavia looked from Jasper to Maya, and a small smile bloomed on her face. She winked at Jasper, who grinned back at her.

A door suddenly opened to their left, and Clarke watched as a dark-haired man stepped through, a smile on his pale face. Five massive and barbarous-looking Reapers flanked him.

"Cage," Maya whispered. "But how can he endure the radiation?" Clarke was wondering the same thing, but this didn't seem the time to ponder the subject.

"I hate to interrupt this little reunion," he said, not looking at all like he hated interrupting. "But you've caused quite a commotion here in Mt. Weather."

"You could have let our people go peacefully," Clarke said, stepping forward.

"You will pay for your crimes," Indra nearly growled, and Lincoln put a hand on her forearm, trying to stop her from rushing forward.

The Reapers on his other side gnashed their teeth, and even Lincoln looked a bit uncomfortable. It was like they were on steroids; they seemed nastier and even more savage than any Reaper Clarke had seen before. Clarke realized that Octavia had given Lexa the device to ward off the Reapers. They'd have to fight their way out of this one, if it came to that.

"I'm afraid it won't be I that pays after all. But you all should be honored. Thanks to you, our people will finally be able to live on the surface. Now, shall we begin?" Cage drawled.

He snapped, and with that, the Reapers rushed forward.

* * *

><p>AN: I knooow, Bellamy and Clarke are separated for just a bit... But I promise you it will be worth it. Not to mention it's sort of parallel to what's happening in the show right now for those of you who are caught up, what with them separating on opposite adventures! And can we talk about that episode?! And also how cute Bellamy's face is always? Let's talk about it. Leave me a review pretty please, because reviews = inspiration, and I love to hear from you guys. Thanks for reading! xoxo, TATF


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I just convinced one of my bosses she should watch them!

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 24<span>

Monty crept along the corridor, with Monroe and Finn close behind. Mt. Weather seemed to be on lockdown, and their path had been blocked more than once by doors that Monty probably could have opened if they'd had more time. He regretted sending Miller with Jasper, because Miller was an expert lockpicker. Just one of the perks of being a great thief, Monty supposed.

Right now, he'd managed to get them at least to the proper level of where the Harvest Sanctuary was supposed to be, and he had no doubt that the older contingency of Arkers had been taken there, especially in light of what Maya had said. He grimaced thinking about poor Harper, feeling guilty himself; they had to look out for one another. That's what it always came down to now that they lived on Earth. What was that phrase he'd read in a book once upon a time? All for one, one for all? Something like that. He knew not everyone felt that way, but having spent time with Clarke, Jasper, Octavia, and all the other good people he'd grown close with, he knew that was their key to survival.

A shadow moved up ahead, and Monty stopped in his tracks. Finn put a hand on his shoulder. "What is it, Monty?"

"Someone's ahead of us."

"Mountain Man?" Finn asked.

"I can't tell."

Finn and Monroe exchanged a glance. "I'll take care of it," Monroe whispered.

She slunk ahead, and Monty admired how stealthy she was. If anything, those from the 100 who had learned to be hunters had become graceful and observant. Monty and Finn waited with bated breath as Monroe crept closer and closer to the figure.

She snuck just behind the figure who seemed to be looking down the hallway, as if unsure where to go, and she reached to grab him in a headlock when he suddenly spun around grabbing her wrists and flipping her around. Finn launched himself up, and Monty was quick to follow. The figure had pinned Monroe, but she gasped in recognition. When Monty drew closer, he realized he knew this person. Vice Chancellor Marcus Kane.

He released Monroe instantly, and she rubbed at her wrists. "Monroe. Collins." He looked to Monty, not seeming to recognize him.

"Monty Green, sir."

"From Agro station."

Monty nodded. Had Kane been part of the group that had been captured?

"Thought you were Grounder chow for sure," Monroe very eloquently stated. Well, that answered that question.

Kane gave her a tight-lipped look. "I did spend some time among the Grounders, but we've come to see most things eye-to-eye." Kane focused on Finn, and Monty realized that there was more to this story than Kane was sharing.

Finn seemed to understand. "We can deal with that when we escape."

"Considering the Grounders are helping to secure your escape, we may have to deal with it sooner than later. Just be prepared."

"All right, hold up," Monty said. "First off, I have no idea why you guys are being so cryptic, but deal with what? And did you say the _Grounders_ are helping secure our escape?! I thought for sure Clarke…"

"Clarke Griffin is the reason for the peace with the Grounders, along with Bellamy and Octavia Blake."

"Bellamy is here too?" Monroe asked.

"And Clarke?" Finn grabbed Kane's arm, and then shakily let it go, realizing what he'd done.

"Yes. I was separated from them upon breaking into the mountain, but they're here somewhere. Now, we need to find this so-called harvest room where our people are."

Monty agreed. They needed to hurry. There would be time for questions and answers later. But before they could move further, a nearly inhuman growl sounded from around a corner. "What was that?"

Kane looked grim. "Reapers."

* * *

><p>Bellamy jogged alongside Raven as Lexa and her crew led the way. The Grounders suddenly slowed, Lexa holding her hand up as a signal to stop. Raven glanced at him, opening her mouth, but he shook his head to cut her off. The Grounders had spent decades honing self-preservation skills, and Bellamy trusted their instincts.<p>

A sudden howl split the air. "Reapers," Raven hissed, and suddenly, the group was taking off in the direction of the howl.

"Shouldn't we be _avoiding_ Reapers?" Raven asked.

Bellamy agreed, but he also knew how much Lexa wanted to save each and every one of her people. Already, the hoards of Grounders who had come with them had thinned to a very few, as many of the Commander's ranks were incapacitating and transporting the subdued Reapers back to camp, where they could later be healed from the drugs the Mountain Men had pumped into their systems.

Near the end of the hallway, the path seemed to open into a larger corridor. And suddenly Raven was shouting, and Bellamy realized it was their people – his people – up ahead, fighting a Reaper. Kane was trying to bludgeon the monster down without seriously harming it, while Finn, Monty, and Monroe struggled with another. But they didn't have weapons, and Monty had a nasty bite mark on his forearm from the fight.

Bellamy sprinted, rushing past most of the Grounders headed that way, but Lexa was faster. She reached into her jacket to pull out the pitch device, and the piercing sound shattered the air. But shockingly, the Reapers didn't go down. What the Hell?

Bellamy launched himself onto the Reaper that was fighting his friends, punching it in the head. The Reaper went down, growling, but was instantly clambering to get a hold of Bellamy's head, its eyes on his neck. "Why isn't it working?!" he yelled, trying to subdue it as Finn rushed forward to help.

Lexa and her warriors were now helping Kane with the other one. "They aren't affected!"

Finn and Bellamy both struggled to pin down the Reaper under them, who was thrashing and gnashing its teeth nonstop. "Good timing, Blake," Finn said, giving him a half-smile.

Bellamy couldn't help but smirk. "You always did know how to find trouble, Spacewalker."

Something was wrong. This Reaper seemed extraordinarily strong, and the high-frequency pitch seemed to be completely ineffective. _Great_, Bellamy thought. This was just what they needed.

* * *

><p>"We don't have weapons!" Jasper told Clarke, putting Maya behind her.<p>

"We can still fight," Miller said, bracing himself, but Clarke put a hand in front of him as Indra smiled, ready for the fight.

"Nobody gets unnecessarily hurt. Let Indra and Lincoln take them out," Clarke said, but Octavia was already moving forward. She had managed to grab another device while in the tunnels, and she'd immediately grabbed for it as soon as the Reapers rushed them. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the piercing tone was doing nothing to debilitate or even deter the monsters now headed straight for them.

Cage cackled as Indra and Lincoln rushed forward to meet their foes. "You think you're so smart. And I must admit, I find your ability to tame these savages extremely… _interesting_. But this is a special brand of soldier. They only take orders from _me_, and no frequency device can stop them."

Cage's eyes alit on Lincoln, who was engaged in combat with one of the Reapers. "And you found one of my favorite pets. Thank you for bringing him back."

That was about all Octavia could take. With a scream, she pulled out a large knife and rushed Cage, and Clarke ran after her. Indra and her foe had stumbled into the corner, where the Reaper slammed her up against the wall. Clarke wanted to veer off and help her, but she needed to help Octavia; if anything happened to her, she knew that Bellamy would never forgive her, but worse – he would never forgive himself. And she couldn't let that happen. He'd suffered enough, spending his life as his sister's keeper, and Clarke was not going to let anything happen to Octavia now.

Cage wasn't a fighter, and his eyes widened at the sight of the two girls rushing him, despite their small statures. He put two fingers to his lips and whistled. The Reaper fighting Indra suddenly seemed to go berserk. She had been fighting to injure, not to kill, but her opponent's deadly assault had her changing her tactics. She swung a large club around, knocking the Reaper back, and she was able to pin his wrists back. She cried out, though, when the Reaper stretched over and bit into her wrist, and she let go momentarily. The Reaper threw her off, picking up a knife that had fallen from the ground and flinging it into Indra's leg. She stumbled, going down, but the Reaper didn't continue its attack. Instead, it spun about and headed straight for Octavia and Clarke.

Miller shook his head. "No way can I sit back for this." He ran forward, basically body slamming into the Reaper that had just left Indra. The Reaper crashed to the floor, and Indra called out, "You! Second to Bellamy!"

Miller turned, and Indra yanked the knife out of her leg, tossing it to him. He managed to grab it by the hilt, muttering, "Crazy bitch could have killed me," but he was grateful a moment later when the Reaper was back and rushing him.

Jasper turned to Maya. "Stay here. I have to help my friends."

Maya grabbed his arm, and he wanted to kiss her, but the suit was in the way. He gave her a squeeze before he set off to help Miller.

Octavia and Clarke had reached Cage, but he sidestepped, taking out a tranq gun that he must have had the entire time. He fired, and a tranq hit Octavia. She cried out. "Octavia!" Clarke yelled, catching the girl as she fell.

Across the room, Lincoln saw red. He knew they were supposed to incapacitate the Reapers, but he roared when he saw Octavia go down, headbutting his opponent. Blood dripped from his forehead, and Lincoln grabbed the head of the Reaper, ready to twist and break its neck. "Lincoln! No!" he heard Indra yell, and some of the rage cleared from his head just in time. Instead he slammed his opponent's head into the wall, knocking him out.

Octavia was down, but she wasn't done, oh no. She flung her club toward Cage. He ducked, cackling as the weapon sailed over her head and hit some of the medical equipment behind him.

_The medical equipment_. That was it. As Lincoln rushed toward Octavia, Indra had dragged herself up and had entered the fray with Miller, Jasper, and the other Reaper. Cage was slowly backing out of the room. Clarke stood up, sure that Octavia would be fine if Lincoln was around, and she ran towards Cage.

Cage fired at her, but Clarke ducked, sliding on the floor past him towards the tubes behind. She recognized these from when President Wallace had given her a tour of the place; they had barely any anesthetics down here, making many surgeries painful and dangerous, but there was some sort of gas that President Wallace had once explained to be "laughing gas." She'd seen it work, and she didn't understand the name, but one of those tubes looked like it administered that type of gas.

Clarke flipped on the switch and grabbed the tube, fitted with a mouth and nose breathing mask, but Cage had come up behind her, and she dropped it as soon as his fingers closed around her throat. "You ruin _everything_," he hissed at her. "As soon as my father told me you were leader of those kids, I _knew_ you'd be trouble."

Clarke choked out, waiting for Jasper or Lincoln or someone, but the edges of her vision were growing blurry. She flailed, pounding at him with a fist, but her struggles were growing weaker. She could hear the tube exhaling gas behind her. One hand blindly reached back, hand closing over the tube. She wrenched it forward, slamming the mask on Cage's face, he recoiled and loosened his grip on her neck, but she didn't let go of the mask, pushing it on his face. Seconds later, Cage's hold became slack, and a goofy – and slightly creepy? – grin bloomed on his face. Suddenly, he collapsed, and Jasper was standing behind him, holding a club.

"My hero," Clarke said sarcastically, hands soothing her neck, where she was sure that bruises were already forming.

"You okay, Clarke?" he asked.

"Just great. Now let's go. We've got a rescue to mount."

* * *

><p><em>Finally<em>. The lock clicked and Abby exhaled a quick breath, hopeful. Could she have done it? She pushed harder and the lock opened. Around her, their people were subdued, and there was hardly any talking. Abby pushed the cage door open and slipped out. She instantly moved across and began picking at the lock on Jaha's cage.

"They should have known better than to try to cage you, Abby Griffin," Jaha wryly stated.

"You know me, Thelonius. I like to think outside the box."

"That you do, Chancellor Griffin. That you do."

She smiled, but it was cut short when she saw Jaha look past her and a door close. She turned, and saw that the doctor from earlier had arrived back into the room and was looking directly at her.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

* * *

><p>AN: Whoo! Lots happening! So I got a guest review saying that I'm dragging this on and the chapters are too short, and I felt like I should address that here. I break the chapters up when it feels right (pretend these are mini-episodes), and the plot and character development needs to feel earned, just like the show - they don't just skip around on there, and I'm not gonna do that here. I have the whole story almost entirely written out now, but each chapter needs editing to make sure it's worthy of all of you wonderful readers, but I do promise to get updates to you in a timely manner. So if you have other concerns, feel free to PM me! :)

And WHOO sorry for this long author's note, but also just want to say thank you SO MUCH to all you wondrous readers, and especially those of you who take the time to review. Means so much to me! Thanks to my beta reader S.B. and my friend K.M. for helping me edit and giving me inspiration, and get excited - it's almost Wednesday (with a brand new episode, YAY!). Bye for now, friends! xoxo, TATF


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters. Happy 100 day (aka Wednesday)!

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><p><span>Chapter 25<span>

Abby covered the Chancellor pin with her fingers as the woman walked forward. "Dante seemed to think you people could be reasoned with, but your actions always prove otherwise."

"Perhaps we could have been," Abby intoned, quickly taking in their surroundings, noting what medical equipment could be turned into weapons, "Before you abducted our children and used them as lab rats."

The woman was quite for a moment. "Yes, I see the resemblance, if only in the way you speak and hold yourself." Abby said nothing, and she let out a lilting, humorless laugh. "The one that got away. Smart girl, their leader and their healer. Shame. Had I been in charge, I would have kept a much tighter leash on her. She would have been the first one we harvested bone marrow from. For now, it seems you people can't help but make a mess. It's quite rude, breaking and entering."

"Clarke," Abby whispered.

The woman began to walk slowly toward her, and Abby gripped the pin harder. "But no matter. We've deployed our full force against the intruders. And even if that were not enough, Cage's pets will take care of any problems. Then we can truly begin here, just as we'd begun with the 47."

Abby's eyes narrowed. She knew that this woman was just trying to get under her skin, and she wouldn't give her the satisfaction. But Abby wasn't the only one listening.

"What have you done to them?!" someone shouted, and the woman smiled.

"More proud parents? You'll all rest assured that your kids will be the defining factor in helping us come about on the surface. They'll write about you in the histories, tales of how mankind was saved by their brethren from the sky. Too bad none of you will live to see it."

* * *

><p>"That looks pretty bad, Clarke," Octavia said for what seemed like the billionth time. They were jogging along a hallway, Maya leading the way, and Octavia was staring at her neck. Clarke could tell it was bruising, and her throat was scratchy; that combined with the wound to her shoulder where a bullet had grazed her probably had her looking like she'd been hit by a launchship, but this wasn't a time to worry about looks.<p>

"I'm _fine_, O. Maya, how much longer?" Their pace had been diminished now with Indra's wounded leg, though Clarke had seen to it the best that she could. They had had to leave the Reapers back in the room with Cage, all unconscious; there was no one to spare to help get the monsters back to the outside encampment.

The girl turned, and Jasper rested a reassuring hand on her back. "Nearly there. Should just be a few minutes. Your people should be there."

Clarke nodded. They needed to mount the rescue, and then destroy the Harvest Sanctuary. She tugged on her pack subconsciously, knowing that there were still hordes of Mountain Men who had yet to make an appearance.

A blow from a Grounder horn split the air, and the group paused. "But that's – ," Octavia began.

"The horn." Indra hissed some words in Grounder tongue.

Clarke noticed Lincoln looked disconcerted. "What's going on?"

"They would only sound that to rally troops to the area. There must be a problem. Lexa's group had a Horn Sounder there," he said.

_Bellamy_. He was with Lexa's group. Octavia had reached the same conclusion. "We have to help them," she said.

But Clarke knew that time was of the essence. "We need to split up. O, you take Indra and Lincoln, and Maya, Jasper, Miller and I will continue toward the Harvest Sanctuary."

"But Clarke – "

"She's right," Indra cut in. "We must divide our forces."

"We're with you, Clarke," Jasper said, Miller nodding behind him.

Octavia didn't seem to want to split up, but she knew this needed to be done. She gave Clarke a quick hug. "Give 'em Hell, fearless leader."

"Be careful, O." With a smile, Octavia was off with Indra and Lincoln. Clarke only hoped that they could help Lexa's group. She thought of Bellamy. _Please let him be okay_.

* * *

><p>Bellamy inhaled deeply, catching his breath. With Lexa's people combined with Finn's motley group, they had managed to take down two Reapers, but not without a few scratches. Bellamy was worried about the bite Monty had sustained, as well as the limp Monroe had developed during the scuffle. She had just been shot with an arrow about a week prior, and he worried that her stitches had opened again with all that had happened. The two unconscious Reapers lay in a heap, where two strong Grounders were preparing to bring them back to the encampment.<p>

"Finn!" Bellamy's thoughts were interrupted as Raven threw herself around the Spacewalker, and he caught her, hugging her tightly. Bellamy knew that the two of them had their problems, but they did mean a lot to one another, even if Bellamy did secretly think that Raven deserved better than how Finn had treated her. He thought of Finn's love for Clarke, and a pit dropped in his stomach. They would have to discuss that when they got out of here.

A female Grounder hissed behind him, and Bellamy turned to see Lexa's group staring at the reunion as well. _Fuck_. One of the terms for peace was Finn's death. "Finn Collins?" Lexa stated, quietly and serenely.

Finn had straightened, and Raven had turned, seeing how antagonistic their allies now seemed. She stepped in front of Finn. "You want him? You go through me."

"That can be arranged," one of Lexa's men rumbled.

"He murdered my nephew," another woman ground out, and Bellamy felt everything begin to escalate around them.

He stepped in front of Raven, appealing to Lexa. "Now is not the time, Commander. We need to finish our mission before we can discuss the terms – "

"There is nothing to discuss, Bellamy Blake. The terms were nonnegotiable. Finn Collins is ours."

"What are they talking about?" Monty asked, completely confused at this turn of events. Why would the Grounders want Finn? He'd helped Lincoln escape the first time, and he'd purposefully sought a peace treaty with them. What had changed?

"They're right," Finn nearly whispered.

Raven looked shocked. "We're not giving you up, Finn."

Before the conversation could continue, howls lit up the end of the tunnel. "Not again!" Monroe said.

"Brace yourselves," Bellamy stated just as three more Reapers rushed them. They were these damn enhanced ones, and Bellamy regretted the fact that he was carrying a gun rather than a Grounder-made weapon.

One Reaper rushed at him, and he hit it with the butt of the rifle. The creature was barely was hardly deflected, but Finn was there, helping him once again. Bellamy wish he'd had enough foresight to pick up a tranq gun that many of the Mt. Weather soldiers had been outfitted with. He shook his head. Clarke probably would have done that. She always thought ahead. He wondered how she and Octavia were faring.

A particularly nasty punch caught Bellamy in the jaw, and his head whipped around. _Dammit_, he could not be distracted with thoughts of Clarke right now. A shout from Raven drew his attention, and he saw Monty splayed on the ground while Monroe and Raven tried to keep the Reaper from tearing out his throat.

"Finn!" Bellamy shouted, and the Spacewalker nodded. _I got this_, the gesture seemed to say, and Bellamy was off. He slammed into the Reaper, but the monster didn't fall. Instead, it grabbed a hold of his arm, wrenching it to the side… There was a quick moment of blinding pain. Something _popped_, and Bellamy realized he didn't have the use of his arm; his shoulder was dislocated.

The Reaper swung about, teeth bared, but Raven brought a club down _hard_ on the back of the creature's head, momentarily dazing it. The sound of boots sounded along the corridor, and Bellamy glanced over to see several Mt. Weather soldiers arriving. Enhanced Reapers _and _Mountain Men? This wasn't looking great.

"We've got company!" Bellamy yelled as Monroe pulled him up by his good arm. She suddenly wavered as a tranq sank into her right shoulder. Her knees buckled, and she blinked up at Bellamy. Monty grabbed her and began to drag her to the side, and Raven was suddenly full on sprinting towards the Mountain Men.

"Raven!" Bellamy roared, and he heard Finn shouting the girl's name as well. That crazy bitch was going to get herself killed. What in the Hell was she doing?!

Raven suddenly lugged a grenade, and a few of the soldiers had wised up enough to get far enough away, but a few were caught in the crossfire. Raven slid across the floor as tranq darts sailed over her head, and she reached a fallen gun. A soldier aimed at Raven, but suddenly found a spear through his torso and fell over.

The Reaper behind Bellamy lunged again, but Raven put the tranq gun to good use, putting three quick darts in the creatures thigh as it began to stagger. Bellamy gripped his shoulder, cursing its disuse, but a well-thrown punch from Monty was able to fell the creature.

Monty clutched his fist. "I think I broke my hand," he gasped out, and Bellamy felt a rushing fondness for the guy. To think how far they'd all come since arriving on Earth.

There were so many Mountain Men. A Grounder blew a horn to signal any of their other people in the area; Bellamy knew they needed all the help they could get.

He suddenly realized that while he couldn't use his gun on the Reapers, he could on the Mt. Weather soldiers, and using his one good arm, he unloaded as many shots as he could, though his aim was horrible with only one hand. He realized it was back to basics, and he found a knife laying in the chest of one soldier.

He pulled it out, engaging in close combat with one Mt. Weather soldier who was trying to tranq him. He managed to embed the knife up to the hilt in the soldier's thigh, and Bellamy knocked the tranq gun away, punching the man as he crumpled. Damn Clarke for making him believe he wasn't a monster, or a bad person; he wanted to kill as little as possible, trying to be a man who was worthy of her.

Bellamy moved away, helping Monroe subdue another soldier. He called to Raven as more soldiers rushed into the small corridor. "Reyes! Grenade 'em!"

She shook her head. "That was it. Clarke has the rest of the explosives!" She kneeled, shooting tranq darts at another Reaper in fast succession.

Bellamy glanced around, trying to think of a way to contain the soldiers, when his heart suddenly plummeted. The man he had felled with a knife to the thigh had brutally ripped the blade from his leg, and a puddle of blood surrounded him on the floor. He would bleed out for sure, and he couldn't move closer to his gun, but he had aimed the knife, and Bellamy could tell that the projectile would hit home: Lexa. Her back was turned.

It was almost as if things moved in slow motion. Bellamy screamed her name, hoping the Commander would move away, and she began to turn as the knife hurtled forward. But the blade sunk into flesh, embedding up to the hilt through sternum. Only, Lexa remained standing, shielded from the lethal blade. Finn Collins was standing in front of her. Finn Collins had taken the blow.

* * *

><p>AN: Dun dun dun... I promise a Bellarke reunion ASAP! Also, just really want to say thank you to all of y'all's responses to the last few chapters - they are so sweet and make me want to write more-more-more. I started talking to my beta about a sequel to this fic; that's how excited you have me :) So thanks so much for reading, and please remember that I do LOVE reviews, and I hope to hear from you. Enjoy tonight's episode, friends! xoxo, TATF


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I love them so much and have been watching the promo for next week's episode NON-STOP because of that.

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><p><span>Chapter 26<span>

For the first time, Lexa looked absolutely shocked. Shocked that she'd been caught unaware, shocked that she'd been shielded, and shocked that her savior was the same boy who had murdered so many of her own people. Finn fell to his knees as Bellamy reached him.

"No, no no no," Bellamy said lowly, unable to believe what was happening. He knew he couldn't remove the blade, or Finn would bleed out faster, but Finn seemed to be fading fast anyway. Bellamy looked at the knife. _R. R._ It was one of Raven's. Finn had been stabbed through the heart by Raven's own knife, though the now dead Mountain Man had been the one to throw it.

Raven skidded up next to them, and even in the heat of battle, Lexa's people seemed to form a small wall of protection while Bellamy and Raven looked into Finn's quickly glazing eyes. "Finn! No, you're okay, you're okay," Raven crooned. And he looked up at her smiling.

"Raven…"

"Don't leave, Finn." Tears sprung from Raven's eyes, and Bellamy felt his own eyes prick. "I'm scared. I need you."

"Shh, it's okay to be afraid," Finn said with a wistful smile. "The trick is not fighting it."

"I love you," Raven whispered.

"I love you too." Finn was extremely pale, and Bellamy began to feel choked. "Bellamy?"

"Yeah, Spacewalker?"

Bellamy leaned down, and Finn whispered to him. Raven cried silently, and Lexa watched on, the surprise gone from her face, but a thoughtful look remained. Fighting raged around them.

"I promise," Bellamy said, and Finn smiled. The light went out from his eyes.

Raven wailed, a sound of despair and mourning, even as the Grounders clashed with the Mountain Men. Bellamy held her as she sank further down, not knowing how this could ever be okay again. Finn Collins was dead.

* * *

><p>The woman in the white coat leaned over to the tray next to her, selecting a particularly nasty-looking medical scalpel, and Abby was suddenly sprinting toward her, despite the yells coming from Jaha and the rest of her people. She knew she couldn't let this woman subdue them; there was just something off about her.<p>

The woman swiped at her with the scalpel, but Abby ducked low, the blade barely missing her. Abby knew these tools were sharp; she herself had cut many patients open with like instruments for surgeries and operations. Abby grabbed a small pair of scissors, generally used to snip the end off of stitches, but it would do for now.

"Quick, aren't you?" The woman said, breathing heavier as she spun around to face Abby.

"Afraid?" Abby taunted back, but she heard a small _fwip_ and a sudden pain shot through her calf. She turned to see a Mt. Weather soldier standing behind her, tranq gun trained and ready. Abby began to falter. _Shit_, there was some kind of sedative in the dart.

"It is not I who should be afraid," the woman soothed, confident.

"Bitch," Abby whispered, ripping out the dart, willing herself to breathe calmly as she thought of ways to counteract whatever was running through her system.

"You may call me Dr. Tsing. I'll be taking care of you today," the woman said as she sauntered forward, still threateningly holding the scalpel. Abby swallowed hard. She had to fight. Yells and shouts came from the cages holding the Arkers. Their lives depended on her.

* * *

><p>"Raven. You have to get up. You have to fight." Bellamy hauled the small girl up, her entire frame wracked by sobs.<p>

"I can't," she cried. "Not without him."

"You _have _to. What would Finn want? He saved you as a little kid, and he wouldn't want that to be for nothing now. Because Finn saw what you are. Everyone can see what you are. You're a fighter, Raven. So fight!" She looked up at him, her sobs quieting as a look of determination began to dawn. "They killed Finn, and they have our people."

She nodded, and she began to compose herself. "Atta girl," Bellamy whispered, and he suddenly heard his name being shouted.

"Bellamy!"

_Octavia?!_ He glanced over and saw Lincoln like a whirlwind of death as he fought Mt. Weather soldiers, Indra behind them fighting. Octavia ran up to him. He grabbed her for dear life. "Octavia! What are you doing here?!"

"We heard the horn, and we came to help you."

Bellamy smoothed down a stray hair, looking his little sister over to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Where's Clarke?"

"She and the others went ahead. We ran into Jasper and Miller."

Clarke was alone? Bellamy had another sinking feeling, much like when he had known something very bad was about to happen to her the other day, before she'd nearly drowned. "We have to find her. _I_ have to find her."

Octavia smiled knowingly. "I know you do."

Lincoln was suddenly there, almost like he already knew what was going on. "We'll take care of things here."

"We need to rescue the rest of the 47 from their dormitory. Monty knows where it is," Bellamy began, and Octavia put a hand on his arm. She'd make sure of it. "Now which way?"

* * *

><p>It was taking a while to reach the Harvest Sanctuary because Maya's access card was no longer working. Mt. Weather was on lockdown, and they'd seen surprisingly few soldiers or Reapers on their way; all forces seemed to be diverted in another direction, towards where Octavia, Indra, and Lincoln had gone, and Clarke hoped everyone was okay.<p>

For now, she watched as Miller picked a lock on a non-automatic door. "One of the older passageways in the facility," Maya had explained. "Hardly anyone uses this section anymore since our cards won't open to it."

"You're pretty good at this, Miller," Clarke said, and the guy grinned.

"Can't say I did my dad proud, being a thief for a son, but let's just say that the Ark's secrets weren't safe from me," Miller jibed, and Clarke smiled at him.

"Impressive." She turned to Maya. "Is it much further?"

Maya shook her head. "Beyond this door is another hall that will lead into the main medical chamber. We should be able to access the Harvest Sanctuary from there."

A sound reverberated down the hallway behind them, and Clarke tensed. She put her finger to her lips, urging her team to be quiet, as she slid along the edges of the dark corridor. A large figure neared, and she couldn't see who it was. She crouched down, her small frame hidden by a fallen grate in the old hallway. She readied her club.

The figure jogged closer, heavy steps, and she launched herself up, club at the ready, but whoever it was had disappeared. Clarke suddenly felt a hand on her wrist, stopping her use of the club as a weapon, but she whipped around, lashing out with her left hand. The figure grunted, "Shit, Clarke," and she felt tears prick her eyes as she realized who it was.

"Bellamy!" And then she was wrapping herself around him, as he chuckled, "That's quite a left hook you've got there too, Princess. Matching set."

Part of her thought how crazy this all was, that just days ago he'd snuck into her tent so that she would come help Lincoln, and now they were here, together, storming Mt. Weather to save her mom, her friends, her people… Her family. His eyes narrowed, and a hand gently caressed her neck. She leaned into his touch, enjoying it for a fleeting moment. "Who did this?" he asked, voice low.

She realized he was talking about her neck. "It doesn't matter. We dealt with the problem."

"Brave Princess," he whispered. "And whoever it is is lucky that you are keeping his or her identity a secret. If I find the culprit… I'd…"

Bellamy trailed off as she leaned forward again, wanting to calm his frayed nerves. He was so warm, and she let the solid plane of his chest steady her for just a minute as she felt his heart beat under his tshirt. "How did you get here?"

"Octavia and Lincoln told me the way. They're helping Lexa and her crew. Seems like the Mountain Men concentrated their forces there."

Clarke nodded. She'd suspected as much. She pulled back, noticing how he only held her with one arm while the other hung limply at his side. "What's wrong?"

He grimaced. "My shoulder. Something popped."

She grabbed his hand, and his face contorted in pain. "Dislocated… I can fix it, but it's gonna hurt."

"Do it," he grunted.

"Tell me what happened with you guys," Clarke said as she dropped the club, putting one hand on his bad shoulder and the other on that arm's wrist.

Bellamy swallowed. He thought of Finn, of Raven's howl of anguish, of how Clarke would react. This wasn't the time to tell her. She would need to properly grieve, but they had to save their people first. He resolved to tell her later. "We ran into some Reapers, but they weren't affected by the high-frequency pitch."

Clarke nodded. "We ran into some too. They were modified to be stronger and faster."

"They definitely seemed enhanced. Anyway, we took out a few of them, and we managed to meet up with Kane, Monty, Finn, and Monroe."

"They're all okay?"

"They were a little scratched up when we found them, but we got there just in – ," Bellamy grunted in pain as Clarke suddenly yanked on his hand, popping the shoulder back into place. "Time," he finished, exhaling sharply.

"Sorry. I figured it was better if I distracted you."

Bellamy tested his shoulder by rolling it around a few times. It was going to be sore, and it already hurt like a bitch to move, but he could at least use it again. He gathered Clarke up in his arms, whispering to the crown of her head, "You did good, Clarke."

She looked up, and their eyes met for only a brief second before their lips collided. The kiss was brief, but it was almost as if they could keep hold of each other forever, pouring feelings of worry and fear and hope through the contact. Clarke was the one who broke off first, giving him a shy smile before cocking her head back the way she'd come. "C'mon. I'm sure Miller is nearly through the door. We have to destroy the Harvest Sanctuary."

He looked at her pack. "Raven said you had the last of the explosives."

Clarke pulled her pack around to the front, digging through. "I do. I'll set it up in the middle of the chamber, and I can remotely detonate it with this." It was a small remote, and Bellamy wondered why he hadn't seen it before. Clarke seemed to know what he was thinking. "This was made specifically to destroy that room. We can't be anywhere near the blast when it goes off."

She threaded her fingers through his and led him back to where Miller was still tinkering with the door. When they neared the group, Miller and Jasper both smiled, excited to see Bellamy. Miller nearly leapt up in his enthusiasm. "Bellamy."

"Miller." The two shook hands, grinning each other. Jasper walked up, and Bellamy stuck his hand out, but Jasper ignored the limb and instead gave Bellamy a big hug. "Jasper. Good to see you too."

Clarke stood next to Maya, admiring Bellamy as the boys greeted one another. Maya glanced over at her. "So he's your Jasper."

Clarke seemed surprised. "What?"

Maya seemed to grow flustered, fidgeting as she explained, "Like, your protector. When I was poisoned by radiation, Jasper came to my rescue and gave me his blood, and it wasn't just because he's a good friend. Well, at least… I hope it's not just because of that."

Clarke smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure it wasn't just because you're friends. I can see that Jasper cares for you, Maya." She looked back to Bellamy. "So yeah, maybe you're right."

Miller had knelt down, finishing up the door, and with a sudden _click_ and a turn of the knob, the old entryway was suddenly open. Jasper gave a cheery shout, and Clarke braced herself for what was about to happen. It was time to mount a rescue.

* * *

><p>AN: Guys, thank you so much for the reviews. They make me so excited to write more :) I'm toying with writing another chaptered fic, plus more little drabbles for the Anthology "The End's Beginning" (on my profile if you want to read), and it's really all thanks to your support. It's weird; I'm starting to get sad as "Entropy" draws to a close! ALSO, GUYS, THAT LAST EPISODE - like, discuss with me. I was FREAKING the entire time. Just freaking out. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you have time! xoxo, TATF


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I obsess over them constantly.

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><p><span>Chapter 27<span>

Abby ducked around the suspended Grounders, feeling her body begin to grow more sluggish. Tsing sneered confidently as the Mt. Weather soldier entered the room, gun still trained on her. He fired off another dart, but Abby ducked to the ground. She found herself having trouble getting back up, though, as the sedative pumped through her veins from the first shot.

A sudden commotion in the hall had the soldier spinning around. "Intruders, and one of our people in a suit," he informed Tsing, and she cursed under her breath.

"Where are our reinforcements?"

"All forces have been sent to deal with their main force."

"Take care of them. I can deal with this one." The soldier nodded briskly before darting off into the hall, and Abby thanked the stars for whoever was out there, hopefully trying to save them. But she couldn't think about that now. She was Chancellor, and her people were locked up in cages behind her, trapped until they became human blood bags, or worse.

Tsing slunk forward, scalpel at the ready, and Abby lunged at her with the scissors. She realized that her weapon was pitiful in comparison, though, as the scissors barely managed to rip through Tsing's clothing as Abby caught her arm, doing hardly any damage. And it hadn't been worth the risk. Tsing was skilled, and she aimed the scalpel for Abby's underbelly, hoping to deal a lethal blow to the vital organs within. Tsing also had a size advantage on Abby, but she managed to throw herself to the side so that the scalpel missed its intended target.

That being said, Abby still felt pain rip through her, and she scrambled away from Tsing, feeling her stomach grow warmer. The scalpel had opened skin, and Abby was now bleeding. Tsing came at her again, and Abby ducked behind a body. The Mt. Weather woman ruthlessly slashed at the suspended Grounder, spilling blood that fell on both women.

Covered in blood, Abby scuttled backwards, her back hitting a procedural table. She felt herself getting groggy, and knew that she didn't have more than another thirty seconds before blood loss and the sedative would render her useless.

Abby managed to haul herself up as Tsing pushed around the body, about to rush her. She reached behind her, and her hand closed on something… A drill! The type of instrument that was only used in bone marrow extraction procedures, Abby noted chillingly. Tsing was almost upon her, and Abby grabbed the drill, turning it on, and thrust it out as hard as she could.

The drill caught Tsing in the chest, and blood spattered up on Abby as it went straight through the lab coat, sternum, and more. Tsing gasped out a dying breath and lay on the ground, eyes glazed open in surprise. Abby slumped, dropping the drill. The wound in her stomach throbbed. It would need stitches, and soon.

"Mom!" Abby heard, and she felt tears prick her eyes. Hearing Clarke's voice, here and now? Maybe this was the end…

But a sudden glimpse of blond hair had her straining to open her blurry eyes, and she felt hands grabbing her. "Clarke?"

"Mom, it's me. It's me. You're okay." Clarke's voice wobbled a bit. Her mom looked like a mess. She was covered in blood, though Clarke couldn't tell if it belonged to Abby or the dead Dr. Tsing on the floor. Clarke had never liked that woman, and she wasn't sorry to see her go, but the woman's death was not a pretty sight.

After breaking through the door, the group had only had to deal with a lone soldier to get through to the Harvest Sanctuary. Jasper had taken a dart to the arm, and he seemed to be growing pretty woozy, but Clarke knew that if they could free the rest of the Arkers, he could easily be carried out.

Clarke looked her mother over for injuries, noticing a particular nasty gash on her stomach. That would need stitches. Abby had passed out, but Clarke looked around, finding a sterilized needle and a disinfectant solution. Clarke quickly worked to move Abby's shirt out of the way. She poured the solution on her mother's stomach, glad that Abby was passed out and wouldn't feel the sting, and got to work on suturing the wound.

Behind her, Bellamy was searching around for keys to the cages, but Miller was way ahead of him, picking the locks as quickly as he could. "Nathan!"

Clarke noticed as father and son were reunited through the cage bars. Miller worked away at the lock, his hands shaky with adrenalin, and when it was finally broken, Sergeant Miller rushed out, grabbing his son in a big bear hug. "Hey Dad," Miller whispered.

The Sergeant laughed gruffly. "I am so proud of you, son."

Clarke met eyes with Bellamy, who was smiling at her softly. Even in the midst of war, there were moments that melted your heart. Maya, who had been searching through cabinets, let out a pleased squeal. "I've got the key!"

She got to work liberating the Arkers, and Clarke turned back to her work, finishing the stitches. Impulsively, she leaned in, grabbing Abby in a hug. They'd had their differences, and Clarke didn't know if or when she'd be able to forgive her mother for her father's death, but she was grateful that she was alive.

Someone sunk down next to her, and she saw that it was Jaha. He looked concerned, and somewhat guilty, as he looked at Abby. "She'll be okay," Clarke said. "We'll have to carry her out of here."

Jaha nodded. "She's strong. We'll take care of it." He bent down to scoop Abby up, aided by some of the other Arkers.

Clarke strode up to Bellamy, who was talking to the Grounders, still huddled in the back of the cages, unsure if they could trust these new people. "… Ai laik Belomi kom Skaikru," he was saying, and Clarke choked back a laugh as his forehead wrinkled in concentration, trying to recall Octavia's words. "Yu-kru klir."

The group looked astonished that he was speaking their tongue, and an older woman stepped forward. "Who are you, to tell us we are safe?"

Clarke put a hand on Bellamy's shoulder, and he knew innately what she was saying; she would answer herself. It was amazing, really, how they could communicate via touches and looks, but that was just how they were. What was left unsaid was always the most important form of communication for Clarke and Bellamy, because they were connected by more than just words.

"This is Bellamy, and I'm Clarke. We are Sky People, but we've made peace with Lexa, your Commander."

"You came to save your people?" someone else in the crowd shouted, and Clarke smiled.

"We all came to save _our_ people – Grounders and Sky People."

The first woman to speak looked Clarke in the eye, nodding. She shouted something, and the Grounders began to move out of the cages, past Clarke and Bellamy toward where Miller and his father stood directing the newly liberated people to follow Maya, who would lead them out. Jasper was slung over Sergeant Miller's shoulders.

Clarke noted that her mother was taken care of, and she unslung her pack, kneeling as she began to get out explosives. Bellamy kneeled as well. "Got enough?"

Clarke nodded. "There's no way they'll be able to use this place for their sick experiments after this. And then we need to get down to the dorms to save the rest of the 48."

"Octavia and Lincoln promised they were already on it." He noticed a look in her eye. "But we'll obviously double-check."

She began to unpack the ammo, carefully stacking it near the cages and medical equipment. "Do you remember when we first discovered the guns in those barrels? I was worried about holding that much power in my hands. Just one gun. And here I am, stacking explosives."

He smiled. "I remember you were a terrible shot until I graciously taught you how to hold a gun."

"You, gracious? Not two words I'd put together."

He put his hand to his heart in mock hurt. "You wound me, Princess!"

She snorted, putting her hand on top of his so that both of their fingers were splayed across his chest. "Right here? Like a knife to the heart?"

Their eyes met, and his hand slowly turned, embracing hers. The atmosphere seemed to grow still, even as people around them made their way out of the room, even as explosives sat around them. "Yeah. Straight in the heart. You are the only one who could hurt me there."

A feeling of elation bubbled up inside of Clarke, and it felt like her veins were afire with admiration for this man sitting in front of her. She wanted to say more, but she was interrupted by Miller yelling towards them. "Bellamy! Clarke! We've got nearly everyone."

Bellamy gave her hand a squeeze before standing up. Clarke continued to set up the explosives. "Have Maya bring you 'round to where the others are." He walked over to describe the path he'd taken to get there, and what the room had looked like where Lexa and her soldiers were making their final stand, and Clarke just smiled to herself. After this, their people would be safe. Sure, they'd have to deal with the Grounders and figure out exactly how they could coexist peacefully, but she'd have her mom, she'd have her friends… She'd have Bellamy.

"Princess, you ready?" she heard him call, and she placed the last explosive on the operating table. She palmed the remote detonator.

"Coming." He waited for her, and they jogged along the hall, a safe distance away before Clarke began to slow down. Her shoulder was still killing her from the bullet wound, and she felt like she'd need to sleep for a good 24 hours before she was truly rested after this whole ordeal, but she was happy. With one more push of a button, they'd have destroyed this nightmare. They could get their people out of here and go home.

Bellamy slowed with her. "You ready for this?"

"Do you want to do the honors?"

"It's all you, Princess."

Clarke took a deep breath… and pushed the button.

But no loud rumble or jolt shook the level. Confused, Clarke pressed again. Still nothing. "Something's wrong."

"The remote's broken?"

"Not sure, but if we can get there, there's a fuse we can set off manually if need be."

"Clarke…" Bellamy growled warningly.

She shook her head. "No, I mean we can shoot it with a gun from afar. Hopefully in the hallway we could erect a barrier before we shot at it, so we wouldn't have to be close range."

Bellamy nodded. "We have to go back." The rest of the group had continued on without them, and the two of them were just fine with that. They began to jog back towards the Harvest Sanctuary to inspect the problem. Clarke felt a bad feeling grow in her gut as they rounded the corner.

Bellamy reached into his pocket and pulled out a smaller handgun, probably picked up from one of the fallen Mountain Men. "Clarke, take this just in case."

"Thanks," she said, tucking it into her pant pocket.

The chamber was just as they'd left it, explosives still serenely planted where she'd put them. They walked in quickly and quietly. Bellamy stood guard near the door as Clarke neared the main explosive pile. She noticed a wire was disconnected and quickly set about righting the problem. "Something came undone," she called.

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah. Should take just a second. Then hopefully the detonator will work."

Bellamy nodded, watching her bend down to fix the issue. Something suddenly _slammed_ into him, and he was sent flying to the floor. He scrambled up, grabbing his gun, but a transparent door flew down, blocking him access to the room. A very pale and creepy-looking man with dark hair smiled at him, hand on the door's control panel from the inside of the room. "No!" Bellamy yelled, spraying a fire of bullets at the door.

Like the last time, this did no damage, but Clarke had noticed the scuffle. She'd managed to reconnect the wire, but she found herself staring at none other than Cage. _Damn_, she thought, remembering how they'd left him unconscious, but not dead. "Cage."

"Clarke Griffin. Leader of the 48 teens we'd brought here. You, young lady, are probably the biggest troublemaker I've ever dealt with." He smiled at her as Bellamy continued to fire bullets from behind the door, searching for a way to bring it back up. "Your boyfriend here seems like quite the pain as well."

Cage snapped and suddenly Clarke heard a growl behind her. A Reaper had been lying in wait, and Clarke felt herself backing up. Another snarl sounded just beside her, and she was too slow to react as another Reaper leapt at her, biting her hand. She cried out, and in the distance she could hear Bellamy shouting her name. Clarke released the remote detonator from her hand as teeth sank deeper, and the Reaper grabbed for it. Clarke tried to pull out the small handgun that Bellamy had given her, but the first Reaper was already upon her, knocking it from her hand and sending her sprawling.

Clarke noticed a bloodied scalpel on the ground, and she grabbed for it. Swiping at one of the Reapers as it came at her, she felt the scalpel dig deep into the creature's flesh, and it howled.

"Now that wasn't very nice," she heard Cage say, as if he was enjoying the whole spectacle. "Once we are rid of you pests, we'll just build up this lab again, more powerful than before. We have more technology than you, and we have been here longer. You cannot escape. Your people will lead mine to the surface. To salvation."

Outside the door, Bellamy yelled in frustration. This damn door! His heart broke as he watched Clarke cry out in pain as the two Reapers circled. She'd already taken a nasty bite to the hand, and Cage was clearly toying with her. This door was not as thick as the one that had separated closer to the surface to contain the radiation, because Bellamy could hear perfectly well through it. There just had to be a way to break through…

Clarke realized that she wasn't going to be able to defeat both of these Reapers and Cage. Her body ached, and she could see that Bellamy was having trouble finding a way in. She'd lost the remote detonator when the Reaper had bitten her hand, but she held the bloodied scalpel. She wasn't too far from the handgun.

She began to sprint toward it. When Bellamy saw her, his heart clenched. "_Clarke!_" he shouted.

She reached the gun, the Reapers on her trail. Cage didn't look worried, only curious as to what she was going to do. She fired off quick shots at the Reapers, clipping them in various spots. They stumbled, but ultimately kept coming; they were too strong, too impervious to pain. Clarke knew what she had to do. "The Earth belongs to all of us, and we have to learn to live together. You will never reach salvation by killing others," Clarke spat at him.

She looked to Bellamy, who was nearly clawing at the door. Of course he knew what she would do, because he knew her. He knew her better than damn near anyone at this point. He called her name again. "Clarke! Stop!"

She grabbed the handgun, aiming it as Bellamy had taught her to not long ago, and she took a deep breath. Her eyes connected with Bellamy's. "Bellamy."

"Clarke, don't do this. _Please_!"

She smiled at him one last time. "I love you."

"_NO!_" he screamed. She pulled the trigger, the bullet flying straight and true towards the fuse. And then everything detonated in a blast of heat and light.

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><p>AN: And that's the end... JUST KIDDING. I wouldn't leave you hanging like that. Or would I?! Let me know your thoughts/feelings/frustrations, and I'll post the next chapter accordingly. Also, I've been talking to my beta and toying with the idea of a new Bellarke fic, which I think will be a little sexier, so keep your eyes peeled. As always, thanks so much for reading, and especially thanks to those of you who review - it makes me want to write more and post more frequently. Hope everyone's having a nice Monday! xoxo, TATF


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but they'll be on my TV so soon!

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><p><span>Chapter 28<span>

Ringing. Everything was ringing. Bellamy wasn't even really aware of what was happening until he felt someone shaking him. He blearily blinked open an eye. It was Octavia, and her mouth was moving, like she was shouting his name. He blinked again, and suddenly sound came rushing back to him. " –lamy!"

He winced. "Not so loud, O."

She laughed, grabbing him up in a hug. He noticed Lincoln, Miller, and Monty behind her. What was going on? His head hurt so badly. "You're all right! What were you doing so close to the explosion? Where's Clarke?"

Bellamy suddenly felt his heart drop into his stomach. The Reapers. The explosion. _Clarke_. And suddenly he was up, pushing past everyone, stumbling into the ruined and charred chamber. Wreckage everywhere, as far as the eye could see, but no sign of life. It was like the first time they'd come back to the dropship, where the scorched Earth and burnt bones belied what had happened. He fell to his knees, digging in the rubble, looking for anything. She just had to be alive… She had to be!

He heard a sob, and he didn't even realize it was his until a second later when Octavia put her hand on his shoulder, and he pulled her close into a hug, letting the tears out. He hadn't cried in so long. Even through the pain he'd been through, when Octavia and he had gotten into their worst fight… Nothing. But this? This just broke his heart.

Over Octavia's shoulder, though, something caught his eye. Something light amongst the burnt wreckage… _Blond hair_. And he had let go of Octavia and moved faster than he'd even thought possible, suddenly digging and throwing things aside. Lincoln was there to help him, as a heavy barred cage stopped their digging for a moment. Together, they pulled it up, and Bellamy inwardly swore he would never question the man again, so thankful was he for the strong Grounder's help.

With the heavy cage wreckage out of the way, Bellamy's heart fluttered as he saw Clarke, looking worse for the wear, but no less beautiful than she always did, and she was _alive_… At least he hoped. The strong cage had somehow shielded her from the worst of the blast. That was the only explanation. He grabbed her tightly but gently, putting his ear to her chest, hoping to hear her heartbeat… But he couldn't hear anything.

He laid her down, pumping her chest a few times. He leaned over and pinched her nose, breathing into her mouth, thinking of how he'd recently saved her this same way after their cliff-tumbling swim. He repeated the process and then leaned down. Still nothing. Would she wake up?

Tears streamed down his face, and he cradled her close. "Clarke, c'mon. You promised! You promised I wouldn't lose you again, dammit." Behind him, Lincoln held Octavia, and Miller kept a respectful distance. They watched Bellamy mourn, and it broke each of their hearts. Octavia cried silently, gripping Lincoln's arm.

Bellamy leaned closer, squeezing his eyes shut. "Clarke," he whispered, "You have to wake up. If you're not the goddamned most stubborn person around here, I don't know who is, and you have to be there when we get all of our people back. You _have _to wake up."

He pumped her chest a few more times, tried to breathe for her, and he began to grow desperate, and the desperation made him angry. "You're so annoying! All I can think about is you – first when you were fighting me at every step, then how maybe you weren't so bad… You made me so confused, thinking I misjudged you. You're always getting in my head! I didn't come down here to lead these people, but I certainly wasn't gonna let a Princess like you dictate what was going on. You're beautiful, and smart, and the most caring person I know."

Bellamy knew he was rambling, but he couldn't help it. The words poured out of him, his true feelings, finally coming out into the open like the sun coming through rain clouds after a storm. "You don't get to leave, Clarke. You didn't let me leave, and I need you too. I need you. And there's something I need to tell you, have needed to tell you for a while now."

He smoothed her hair back over her temple, his hands gently cradling her marred face, his eyes falling closed in an attempt to stem the tears. "I love you too. I tried to keep my walls up, but you tore them down. I can't help it. I love you."

He opened his eyes and found himself looking into stormy blue. He nearly gasped, but he didn't have the time before she'd grabbed the back of his head and yanked his lips down to hers. He kissed her gently, passionately, and he felt more tears slide down his cheeks. She was alive! She was alive, and she was here in his arms.

They parted, and he put his forehead down to hers. "Finally," she whispered, and that was all she could muster before she passed out again.

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><p>A metronomic dripping was the first thing she became aware of. It was so annoying, that steady trickle of water droplets, and she screwed her eyes shut, willing the sound to go away. She was so tired, and her body ached all over; she didn't want to move. But finally, she blinked her dreary eyes open, looking around and trying to remember what had happened.<p>

Clarke realized that her shoulder was bandaged, and she remembered how a bullet had grazed her there. The bite on her hand had been covered in a poultice, and she winced as she flexed her fingers. There were various mottled bruises covering her body, and small lacerations and cuts, though she couldn't say exactly how she'd gotten those. She remembered the explosion, marveling at the fact that she'd lived through it. Clarke had thought that was the end, for sure, knowing how powerful those explosives were.

She grunted as she tried to sit up and felt there was some sort of pressure on her hip. She saw dark, messy hair, and she realized that it was Bellamy. It looked as though he's fallen asleep, sitting on a stool near the pallet on which she lay. She smiled. She could get used to watching Bellamy asleep; he seemed so much calmer, so much younger this way, like he finally didn't have to shoulder the weight of the world. She reached down, ran her fingers through the tips of his unruly hair…

"Does this mean you forgive me?" she heard a deep voice grumble, and she glanced at his face to see that his dark eyes were open, peering at her thoughtfully.

_For what?_ was on the tip of her tongue, but when she thought about it, she knew what he was asking. Did she forgive him, he wanted to know, for letting her wander too far from him? For letting her almost die? For taking so long to say those three words? "If you forgive me," she replied, and he lifted up his head, though he kept his hands near her lap, big and warm.

"For doing something so stupid that you almost got yourself killed? Only you, Princess. You do realize I'll have to watch you even more carefully from now on, right?" She knew was he was really saying, though. _I was worried about you. I care about you. _

_I love you_.

"I'll have fun watching you try," she sassily threw back at him, and the corners of his mouth turned up.

"I can't believe you did something so reckless."

"C'mon, yes you can."

"You're right. I can believe it, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it," he growled, and she let out a small chuckle.

"Now you don't expect me to go changing and doing everything you like just because I love you, right?"

His gaze grew more heated, more intense, and one of his hands reached out and wrapped around one of hers, holding her gently but firmly. He stood up, leaning towards her, still hesitant, but a slight nod from her had him surging forward, his other hand wrapping around her neck as his lips sought hers.

And it felt so right, like two pieces of a puzzle that were meant to fit together. Her blood felt afire with desire for him, but also a deeper, more unsettling and yet very natural rush of warmth alit deep in her gut. She let out a small moan, and he growled in response, a primal sound that had him pressing further against her. She felt so good…

But as soon as his hand moved down from her neck, gripping her injured shoulder, she gasped out in pain, breaking away from him. Realizing what he'd done, he helped her lay back down, "Shit! Sorry, Clarke."

She wanted to make a snide comment about how she'd gotten him – the surly Bellamy Blake – to apologize, but she could see that he was genuinely concerned. "It's fine. I'm just a little banged up."

"A little… God, Princess, you should have seen yourself when we first found you."

"How… How did I survive the explosion?" Clarke really couldn't remember much after she'd shot the gun, aiming for the explosive fuse.

"One of the cages managed to shield you from most of the debris, and you were behind enough equipment that the blow didn't directly hit you. You have more scrapes and bruises than anyone else here, but your mom managed to patch you up as soon as we got back."

"My mom! Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Your stitches did the trick until Jackson could redo the sutures in a more clinical setting, and she's been rushing around ever since taking care of everyone."

_Everyone_. "So we got our people out?"

Bellamy nodded. "Lexa and her crew managed to defeat the last of the Mt. Weather soldiers, and Maya led a group down to the dormitories while making sure not to spread the radiation. Jaha stayed behind as an emissary to the remainder of the Mountain Men, along with a few guards, to discuss terms with them as far as peace goes. Jasper stuck around too."

Clarke allowed herself a small smile. Of course he would have kept a close distance to Maya. Jasper was a sweet person; he would be a great help in helping forge peace between the Mt. Weather citizens and the Grounder and Ark alliance. "Are they dealing with President Wallace?"

"After you managed to take out Cage and his supercharged Reapers, we learned that Wallace was dead in his office, killed from radiation."

Clarke swallowed that information. She hadn't liked President Wallace, but she also didn't wish him dead. She had hoped that he could have been reasoned with, but hopefully whoever the Mt. Weather soldiers chose as their new leader would be open-minded. "And did we take any losses?"

Bellamy nodded. "Lots of wounded, and we lost quite a few Grounders to the Reapers and the Mountain Men. They focused on tranqing most of our people, but with the Grounder they shot to kill."

Bellamy looked away, growing serious, and Clarke could tell that something was wrong. "What is it?" He didn't answer right away, as if he didn't know quite how to say what he wanted. "Bellamy. What's wrong?"

"We did lose… one, Clarke."

She waited, and the room was so quiet she could only hear the dripping water and her heart beating steadily. "Who?"

"Finn."

Clarke gasped. She didn't know what to feel. She felt shock, sadness, anger… So many things. Finn had been so many things to her, and in such a short time. He'd been her ally, her friend, her lover; he'd committed a war crime in her name, though she had never thought he would go so far. He was just a traumatized teen, looking for a way to survive down here. "What happened?" she whispered.

"He saved Lexa. Took a killing blow for her straight through the heart. There was nothing that any of us could do, but he knew what he was doing. I think he wanted to atone for his crimes. The Grounders took his body for some funeral ritual. Octavia, Raven, and a few others went with them, and they'll return the day after tomorrow to continue peace talks. He… He told me something, right before he died."

She waited, unable to bring herself to say anything, and Bellamy pressed on. "He said, 'Take care of our Princess.'"

Clarke could feel the rush of tears coming now, and a small sob escaped her. Bellamy gathered her in his strong arms, and she cried and cried. She scooted over, and he climbed up onto the small pallet, wrapping his body around hers as she let out any and all feelings she had ever had about Finn Collins.

After what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, Clarke felt exhausted, dried out. Her eyes were puffy, and Bellamy was rubbing soothing circles on her back. "I thought maybe I could love him, but how well did I know him, really?" she whispered in a very detached voice.

"We were all under a lot of pressure down here. We still are."

Clarke tilted her head up, her nose nearly touching Bellamy's. "And really, I think I've loved you since that day we found the guns. When I realized how much you were hurting inside, and how strong you were to come down here for Octavia, and how much your rift with her had hurt you… I felt like I was finally seeing the real Bellamy."

"I _know_ I've loved you since you showed Atom mercy, when the acid fog got him," Bellamy whispered back. "Strong, brave Princess, always making the right choice, even if it's the hard one."

Light flooded into the small tent as the entry flap was suddenly flung open, and Abby Griffin stepped into the room. She seemed somewhat shocked to find Bellamy in bed with Clarke, but she didn't let it show other than a small raise of her eyebrows. "Blake, I need to check on Clarke to make sure her vitals are okay."

Bellamy nodded, extricating himself from Clarke. She clung onto him harder, and he chuckled lowly as he removed her hands. "I'll see you soon, Princess."

"I'll hold you to that."

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><p>AN: Major shout-out to my beta S.B., without whom none of this would have ever happened. And only one more chapter of Entropy - so sad! I can't believe this is coming to an end. Leave me a review if you liked what you read here, and I'll have you know that you'll all be going on a FEELS TRIP next chapter :) Also, I started a new fic - check it out on my profile; it's called **The Line Between** and I promise lots of Bellarke action, angst, and fluff coming to your way. As always, thank you, faithful and lovely readers, and happy watching tonight! xoxo, TATF


	29. Chapter 29: Epilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I've had lots of fun using them for this fanfic!

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><p><span>Chapter 29: Epilogue<span>

This was a bad idea. No, not even just a bad idea. This was on par with when she fought off Dax while high on nuts, or jumped off the top of that waterfall to follow Anya even though she couldn't swim. Or maybe that time that she'd scaled a cliff to make a seaweed poultice, or blown up a room while she was still inside it. Hell, Clarke felt like it didn't matter whether she was on the Ark or on the ground – she could definitely be considered certifiably insane.

Here she was, slowly going deeper and deeper into the lake where she knew that there was crazy wildlife or strange environmental developments, and, oh yeah, she shouldn't forget the fact that _she didn't know how to swim_. And Bellamy… Well, he was the entire reason she was in this situation. _Look what happened last time_, he'd insisted, and so here she was, at his behest, learning to make her body float.

She felt a small bubble of panic as she tried once again and failed, her body sinking in the water, but a strong arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her afloat. "Relax, Clarke. You have to just let your body do its thing. We're buoyant, you know."

"Maybe _you_ are, since your head is so full of hot air. This is a bad idea, Bellamy."

He laughed, and she found herself smiling at the sound. "I thought you wanted to get away from your mom? She'll never find us here."

That was true. A few days ago, Abby had come in to find Bellamy comforting Clarke after the news about Finn. Since then, the Chancellor had been keeping an even closer eye on her daughter.

"You've got to rest. We just don't have the equipment to find out whether you have residual internal injuries," Abby chided, and Clarke had lain cooped up in the medical bay for the rest of that day, unable to get away until Kane had come in to discuss something with Abby. Shockingly, Clarke saw him lead Abby out, and then turn and _wink_ at her. Had Kane just become her accomplice in escaping?!

Not one to blow an opportunity, Clarke slid out of the tent. She heard Kane and Abby speaking lowly nearby, and though she didn't stick around to hear what about, she did notice Kane's hand on Abby's lower back, and how her mother seemed to lean in towards him. Clarke wasn't sure if she should be angry or not, considering she still held some bitter feelings towards her mother regarding her father's death; but Kane was a good guy, and he was clearly reforming in his ways, letting up on the rules enough to know what was best for their people. And he genuinely seemed to care for her mom, and for now, that was good enough for Clarke.

Clarke continued deeper through the camp. Camp Jaha was more put together than the 100's camp at the dropship, but to Clarke, it didn't quite feel like home. The sun was going down, and Clarke noticed that a few Grounders hung around camp, showing some of the Arkers their ways. Clarke knew this was a tenuous peace, but perhaps eventually it could grow into something strong and steady. Suddenly exhausted, Clarke found her way back to the medical bay, her mom nowhere around. She nearly fell onto the pallet, quickly succumbing to a deep sleep.

Two mornings later, Clarke had awoken to the sound of sniffling, and she turned over to see Raven sitting in a chair by her bed. The party that had gone to the Grounder village must have returned overnight. "Raven?"

Raven turned, rubbing her eyes now that Clarke was awake. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you with my blubbering."

But Clarke knew how much Finn's death must be affecting her, and she pushed herself into a seated position and leaned forward, putting one hand on Raven's shoulder. This made Raven chuckle. "I remember when I first found out about you and him. I was so mad."

"Raven, we don't have to –"

"Yeah, I know. But I want to. Because Finn had enough love for both of us, even if it was in different ways. Sometimes I'd just get _so mad_ at him." She stopped and took a deep breath before going on. "You know, I told him to bring you guys back. He went out there because I urged him to."

"He would have gone anyway."

"Maybe."

Clarke was quiet for a second before she spoke up. "He really loved you."

"Yeah, I know." Raven wiped her eyes, smiling a little. "But he moved on. And that's what I have to do now. He'd understand."

Clarke smiled. "That's what he would want."

The tent flap suddenly opened, and Wick stepped in. "There you are, Wrench Monkey. Got a couple of gadgets that need some tinkering." He stopped when he noticed her puffy eyes.

But the corners of Raven's mouth had turned up, and Clarke noticed her eyes shone a little as they rested on Wick. "You and your gadgets. Aren't you engineers good for _anything_?"

Raven looked back to Clarke, who gave her a little smirk in return. "Go," Clarke mouthed, and with that, Raven was standing up, telling Wick that they should never send an engineer to do a mechanic's job, to which Wick responded by throwing an arm about her shoulder, joking about something, but Clarke could see how the two of them seemed to draw together. And Clarke was happy for her friend.

Abbie had spent most of her time in the med bay with Clarke, but she did have other visitors as well. After her confinement in the med bay, Clarke was feeling restless, and Octavia had come to visit. O filled her in on everything that had happened immediately after the liberation of their people in Mt. Weather. "And then, Jasper, who like seriously has to be one of the funniest people I've ever seen when drugged, just sort of stared at me for at least a minute and just goes, 'Your hair.'"

Clarke laughed alongside Octavia. "Maybe he thought he was imagining it before. He did get hit with a tranq dart."

Octavia ran her hands through her shortened hair, and Clarke thought she looked much more grown-up this way. The tent flap opened as Lincoln and Bellamy came in, Lincoln's normally composed features lifting a bit when he saw Octavia. She stood up, leaning into him, as Bellamy took her seat. "I'll tell you more later. Lincoln and I are going to take a party of the guards hunting."

With that, the two of them had departed, leaving Clarke alone with Bellamy for the first time since she'd first woken up. His eyes were positively mirthful as he leaned in towards her, as if she were a conspirator in some plot he had afoot. "I have an idea."

Clarke could feel a smile completely overtake her face, and she leaned forward as well. "Is it the kind of idea that'll get us in trouble?"

"C'mon, Princess, what kind of question is that?" he said with mock hurt before he was grabbing her hand and gently guided her up. "You know that's my favorite kind."

"Good," she nearly laughed as he led her out of the tent. "I really need to get away from my mother!"

They'd snuck out of the medical bay, along the back of the fence, where Bellamy had pulled Clarke close to him as people passed by. Clarke noted that it was Monty, and he seemed to be running from something as he looked back and forth, wondering where he should hide next. She realized it was actually a _someone_ when she saw Mel following after him, calling, "Montyyy," and Clarke had to put a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. She saw a rare grin from Bellamy too as he watched the scene, and Clarke's heart felt light, as if the two of them shared a secret joke.

And that's how she had wound up here, at Bellamy's favorite swimming hole, trying to float even though her body seemed to have other ideas. When he had first taken off his shirt and pants, he'd been left in his boxer briefs, and Clarke found herself gulping, wondering if the temperature had suddenly dramatically increased or what. He looked at her expectantly, and she was suddenly unbuttoning her pants and sliding them down her legs. She didn't miss the look of hunger and appreciation in his eyes, and it made her grow bolder. She shimmied off her shirt, careful not to disturb the dressings on her shoulder. She was left in a plain bra and panty set, but Bellamy's hungry look told her that he liked what he was seeing.

He'd nearly pulled her into the water, and she laughed as she felt the cold rush around her, knowing he was nearby. Only, it turns out that floating didn't come as easily as he seemed to think it would.

"Just let your body do its thing," Bellamy was saying to her. "It's natural to float. Think of other things."

And suddenly she was thinking about other things. She was thinking about Bellamy saving her from the river the first time, or when she'd woken up, warm in his embrace. She was thinking about how he'd sucked the venom out of her ankle, or held her when she'd first woken up from the explosion. Her head was filled with Bellamy, and she was startled when a moment later, his voice rang out, "There you go. You're floating, Clarke."

Of course, that's when she began to flail, and therefore sink, but Bellamy's arm wrapped around her waist once again. "I did it?" she sputtered.

"You did. Whatever you were thinking about totally distracted you enough to let your body do its natural thing." Clarke looked right at him, wondering if he knew her thoughts, that she'd been daydreaming about him. And maybe, just maybe, pretty distractions weren't so bad after all.

After another hour, Clarke felt that she could safely float without Bellamy's help, though her body ached from trying to take any strong strokes. Bellamy must have realized that she was exhausted, because he'd declared an end to their swimming adventure for the day. They climbed up onto the bank, watching as the sun began to set. Clarke leaned back against Bellamy, her back to his chest, skin to skin, in a position reminiscent of the first time they'd gotten caught in the water together.

"Your mom will probably have me lashed for stealing you away from the med bay for so long," Bellamy said, and Clarke could feel his breath stirring the ends of her damp hair, as one of his hands lay on her hip.

Clarke snorted, turning to look at him. "I'd like to see her try. Not only would I put a stop to that, but so would all the Grounder girls who have a crush on you."

Bellamy snorted. "None of them have a crush on me."

"_All_ of them have crushes on you! Octavia was telling me about it."

"O is prone to exaggeration."

"She went with them to their village, and apparently they talked about you the _entire_ way there _and_ back." Bellamy's arms wrapped tighter around Clarke. She could tell he was secretly embarrassed, but it was so like him to be dismissive. She saw a light dusting across his face, finding his blush to be extremely cute with his freckles. "Too bad you're already spoken for."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You're _mine_, Bellamy Blake."

"Only if you're mine," he whispered against her lips, and she found herself nearly drowning in a sweet kiss. His grip on her waist became tighter, and he broke away from her mouth to trail kisses down her neck. Clarke hummed in content.

The sun was beginning to set, the Earth's sky a beautiful kaleidoscope of pink and yellow and orange as twilight began to fall. And as Bellamy gently laid her down, rolling them over so he was hovering over her as he kissed her, Clarke couldn't help but think about how they'd gotten here. His rescuing her, their peace pact with the Grounders, and saving their people… But that's how entropy works, isn't it? And as Bellamy's mouth met Clarke's for another searing kiss, she knew that she would be just fine moving forward, because no matter what, they'd be together.

THE END

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><p>AN: And that's a wrap, friends! This story started out as my friend S.B. and I joking about writing a one-shot where Clarke got hyperthermia, and then I decided to make it a two-shot to set the stage a little... Of course that spiraled, and here we are - but that's how entropy works, isn't it?! Just want to say thank you so much to everyone who followed along, and especially to those of you who wrote reviews.

If you want more from me, check out my other story **The Line Between** (and leave me reviews if you want to show your love!). There's a possibility that Entropy gets a sequel in the future, but we'll see. Thanks again, everyone, and hope you all have a wonderful rest of the day! xoxo, TATF


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